Definitely Not in Search of Chocolate on the Grid in Sacramento, California

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There are infinite ways to walk from J and 23^rd streets to 5^th and T,

which is where I live.

It’s a grid.

The letters run east west.

And the numbers run north south.

Like that.

There are so many ways to go,

it can be difficult to know when to turn.

At the end of the trip if I have gone 10 blocks south and 18 blocks west,

I will have arrived home.

At first I was cold so I navigated by the sun.

It was a lot warmer heading south on the east side of 19^th street.

Then I passed a See’s Candies

and I started thinking about chocolate

a lot.

I had been to a See’s yesterday

to buy valentines.

I don’t eat chocolate

because there isn’t enough chocolate in the world for me.

Normally I don’t buy chocolate

for the same reason.

At the See’s they handed me a “sample.”

I ate it, because it was just a “sample.”

I can hardly be blamed.

Today I still tasted the salty sweet of the sample

in my mouth.

Even so, I walked right by the See’s heading west on J.

This was all before I turned south on 19^th street.

When I got to L, I had had enough of the sun.

That was why I turned right.

I did not turn right because I knew

that there was a high end chocolate shop called Ginger Elizabeth on L.

That was not the reason I turned at all.

I got to Ginger Elizabeth and I thought,

“why not just see what they have?”

So I started to open the door.

Unfortunately, there was a long line.

So I moved on.

I had not really been that interested in high end chocolates.

I kept heading down L street

but not because I knew that on the same side of the street,

much further west, there was another See’s.

I can prove that was not my motivation

because I soon crossed to the south side of the street.

If I had just been trying to score chocolate

I would have definitely stayed on the same side of the street

as the See’s.

I didn’t cross the street just because there was construction

and I couldn’t walk on the north side.

The reason I crossed back to the north side

as I got to the Capitol

was just because I have always liked

that little pedestrian area right there on 11^th.

Sometimes I run into acquaintances there

from my days working inside that building.

But since I was right there,

on the same block and the same side of the street

as the See’s
by coincidence

I decided I might as well go in

just to see what they had.

I started to open the door,

only to see that there was an even longer line

than the higher end shop had.

I kept walking west

until I came to a stoplight

which I took as a sign to turn left on 7^th street

and continue heading south.

I definitely didn’t even consider turning left on 9^th instead

in order to go by the 515 Market

where they logically would also sell chocolate

possibly with fewer lines.

The rest of the way home

I congratulated myself

on how deeply spiritual I am

to let my Higher Power

guide me gently home.