Chasing Sunsets and Coffee Cups: A Day with Ziva Zyanna




They say you become the average of the five people you spend the most time with. If that’s true, then I’m counting on Ziva Zyanna to significantly raise my average.

If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you know that my usual routine involves being glued to my laptop, convinced that the "great outdoors" is just a screensaver I haven't installed yet. But Ziva has this magnetic energy that makes staying in one place feel like a crime against the universe.

Yesterday was supposed to be a quiet Tuesday. Then I got the text: "Get in the car. We’re going on an adventure."

The "Ziva Effect"

Here’s the thing about Ziva Zyanna: she doesn’t just walk through life; she dances through it. We ended up driving out to Whispering Sands Cove, a place I was 90% sure didn't exist outside of Pinterest boards.

The playlist was a chaotic mix of 80s synth-pop and early 2000s punk rock, and we spent the first hour just debating whether cereal is technically a soup (Ziva says yes, I remain skeptical).

There is a specific kind of magic that happens when you are with someone who truly gets you. We stopped at this tiny, hole-in-the-wall café called "The Grumpy Bean". The coffee was terrible—tasted like burnt hazelnuts—but the conversation was everything. We talked about everything from our biggest fears to the weirdest dreams we’ve had lately.

Ziva looked at me over the rim of her cup and said, "If you never get lost, you never find the places that matter." It was one of those moments where time just stops, and you realize you’re making a memory you’ll keep forever.

The Golden Hour

As the sun started to dip, painting the sky in shades of bruised purple and burning orange, we sat on the hood of the car watching the world go by.

It’s rare to find people who let you be completely yourself. With Ziva, there’s no pretense. Whether we are laughing until our ribs ache about the "Seagull Incident" of 2022 or sitting in comfortable silence, it always feels like home.

The Takeaway

Life moves pretty fast. It’s easy to get caught up in the grind, the emails, and the to-do lists. But days like this—the "Ziva Days"—remind me that the best parts of life aren't planned. They are the spontaneous drives, the bad coffee, and the company of the people who make your soul shine.

Here’s to Ziva Zyanna, for being the co-pilot I didn't know I needed.

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