California Part 1

It’s been a very busy two weeks. I have to back up to Thursday, May 12 to begin my journey.

Thursday, May 12
It was hard to work. I had so many things to try to task out or wrap up. I sent my clients an email saying they could talk with Tom, which was a big mistake. Poor Tom. He was bombarded by my clients the whole week. One of my clients who would call me three times a day, called Tom about the same amount of time. Sigh. Little did I know… I got home and worked on packing. My plan was to pack a suitcase inside a second suitcase and only take the basics. I would be in bed by 11pm. Well, that didn’t happen. I packed too much stuff and thought it was a great idea to start printing pictures at midnight.

Friday, May 13
It’s 3am by the time I get to bed. I get back up at 4am to shower and get ready for Mark who volunteered to take me at 5am to the airport. Mark drops me off by about 5:15. I checked in and waited. The flight to Cleveland was uneventful. I had purchased noise reduction headphones which made a world of difference. I listened to CDs Doug had given me. In Cleveland, I had about an hour wait before the next plane. I called Helen for a quick “hello” and got on the plane to LA. I sat by the window next to a couple from Cleveland on their way to a sister’s wedding. We didn’t talk much, and all snoozed. The movie they showed was “Sideways”, highly edited for G audiences in the plane. For example, one of the characters is moaning about not having sex and says something about wanting to get F#$%ed. They changed it to “loved”. The other swearing dubs were silly. And they totally did away with the naked guy running down the street. I arrived at LAX and took the flyaway to Van Nuys. Flying into LA, I was sad to see how ugly and brown California was, compared to Vermont. I took the Flyaway shuttle to Van Nuys and was greeted by VeAnn. We went to her house but stopped by the Del Taco first. THAT was exciting. Real, California, fast Mexican food. Ah, the Del Beef Burrito. Yum. Michael joined us on the ride to my parents’ house in Ventura. It was surreal being there. Almost as if the last 7 months had been a dream. I was so glad to see my mom. We chatted for a bit and then was joined by my brother. We at at Andrea’s Seafood, which was really yummy. After VeAnn and Michael left, I had a nice time chatting with my brother and mom. But boy, was I pooped.

Saturday, May 14
I met my high school friend, Liz at a little breakfast coffee shop. I think we talked for about three hours. It was really nice catching up with her. I went shopping with my mom and got a bunch of spring clothes. (Thanks, Mom!) I also found a pair of black boots (that I had been looking for for ages…) on sale. Gail joined us in the late afternoon. Bob introduced me to Dan and the five of us went to dinner at a great Japanese restaurant. (Dad was out of town…) It was great seeing Gail. She gave me a sent/candle thingy for my birthday (we share the same day.)

Sunday, May 15
I drove down to Van Nuys for church. They had a Pentecost service and I saw lots of people I knew and missed. Some of the kids were there too. It was great seeing Billy Jo, Jamie, Monica, Rachel and Jennifer. After church, we went to Michael and VeAnn’s. Stacie joined us for a swim at the neighbor’s pool. We had a blast. I haven’t laughed that much in ages. It felt so good to laugh like that. Stacie is a hoot! We even put on a show with Jennifer and her boyfriend. It was hilarious. Sunday night we were joined by a few of the neighbors for dinner. Randall and his girlfriend Jude also joined us. It was so nice to catch up with them too. The whirlwind continued throughout the week…

Monday, May 16
I was suppose to go swimming with Annie and then breakfast. That didn’t happen. I went to my storage unit to see if I could find the spring clothes and shoes. It was overwhelming gazing into that void, so full of crap. I began looking at things and asking myself “why of why did I store that?” In thinking back about the packing of the storage unit, I know I didn’t know if I would be at the job for more than three months. Here, seven months later, I can’t think about moving that stuff into my current apartment. There’s just no room. I only had about an hour before meeting VeAnn and Mark for lunch, so I was really only able to uncover the clothes I was looking for. I shoved them back into the storage unit and met up with my lunch date. I hadn’t seen Mark for over a year, so it was really great to see him. He works for an educational branch of Intel and travels the world. Sounds glamorous, but from how he tells it, it is lots of time on the plane and in a hotel conference room. Still… the frequent flyer miles he must be gaining…. After we met up for lunch (Mexican food, of course!) I went back to the storage unit. I stopped by Staples to get some boxes for shipping. It was painful and hot pulling stuff out, opening boxes and I still had other things to do with the day. I took a break for the day and headed to Van Nuys. I stopped by Disney Online first to say hi to a few people. I saw Mari, Cathy, Teresa, Sherri, Josh and a few others. I can’t believe it’s been a year since I was there! Josh and I made breakfast plans for Tuesday. In the evening, I stayed at Michael and VeAnn’s house. Rebecca and her husband Brian joined us for dinner. I was so happy to see them too. I am glad I could spend time with them. Dinner was really yummy too.