San Francisco Fireworks of Another Kind

On a Saturday night in early May when I received a text message from an ex-girlfriend - R U at Kaboom? - I knew I'd missed the boat. Literally and figuratively.

KFOG Kaboom is an annual fireworks display over the San Francisco Bay, and last year my buddies and I watched it from a sailboat on the water. Yes, it was amazing. We moored right on the edge of the no-sail zone surrounding the pyrotechnics barge and enjoyed incredible views of fireworks lighting up the Bay Bridge. Of course we vowed to go again next year, and every year after that.

So how did we miss out? And what's with the ex-girlfriend resurfacing?

Last year we stumbled upon Kaboom by sheer dumb luck.

We sail about once a month, usually on a thirty-two foot boat. Greg Norman's yacht it ain't, but with chips, pretzels, and a cooler of beer, and a customary pitstop at Sam's in Tiburon, it's perfect. Our sailing adventures are sporadic. With careers and families and my custody schedule to plan around, it's not easy picking a date that works for everyone. Last year when renting our vessel at a Sausalito sailing club, we saw a KFOG flyer advertising the night-time event.

"We're not watching fireworks," our captain said.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance," I said, figuring if we didn't do it now we never would.
"I've never sailed at night," our captain said.

Half a day later, on Sam's sunny outdoor patio, moods changed. How could they not? With practically every nearby cocktail drinker trying to worm their way onto our boat, my buddies realized the show would be special. If we'd downed a few more drinks, we might have brought the whole bar with us.

"Does the sailboat have a flashlight?" our captain asked, gleam in his eye.
"Absolutely," I said.
"I guess I'll be learning how to sail at night!"

This year when the text message came in, I realized we'd blown it big time. Kaboom hadn't even been on our radar. Even worse, that this ex-girlfriend was texting me meant she and her female entourage wanted to join us on the sailboat.

As a single dad living in Silicon Valley where the ratio of single men to single women is a zillion to one (you can quote me on that, I counted), a single man needs a leg up on the competition. To be sailing during Kaboom beneath a dazzling display of skyrockets in flight would ratchet my cachet up into the ozone.

(I'm not saying that dating an ex-girlfriend is a good idea, but it's not an entirely bad one. There's room for it in a single parent's relationship universe.)

I replied with a text message - I'm not at Kaboom. Wish we'd gotten a boat! Want to grab a drink?

She didn't text back.

And so you see, besides literally missing the boat to see fireworks, I missed the figurative boat with my ex-girlfriend. Who knows? We might have made some fireworks of our own.

Original Silicon Valley Moms Blog post. Photo by Jef Poskanzer, some rights reserved.
David Mott authors the blog Dad's House - Dating and Parenting as a Single Dad.