The first three nights I stayed with friends:
Chris and Rick, who took great care of my Jeep at their house while I was gone, also picked me up from the airport and gave me a comfortable place to relax and let the shock of being back in the US sink in. Chris was a dedicated reader of this blog, and I enjoyed the feedback she gave me during the trip and during our night and morning together.
Roger and Jeannie housed me for two nights. Jeannie was not feeling 100% but did a good job of staying strong and we had some really good conversations. They were interested listeners and encouraged my stories about Spanish and traveling alone and missing Mike, because they had not read much of the blog - only the posts I published with a link in Facebook. I was happy to meet one of their neighbors at the pool on my first full day back - this person overheard us talking about my learning Spanish, and jumped in the conversation saying she grew up in Spain as a child but had lost much of her Spanish since her parents did not keep the language alive for her when they moved to the US. (This is not an uncommon story.) But she had enough to understand me, and we had an enjoyable short conversation. Day one - Spanish conversation? Check!
After three nights inland, I headed back to the beach for an afternoon on my way to the Motorhome. When I saw it and got near my stomping grounds I was hit with a strong wave of emotion returning to the place I spent the first four months after Mike left. It was good.
While I sat there on the beach, attempting to hold on to the memories of the next to months I spent in Mexico by eating avocado,
I got a text and picture from Adriana, my friend from the restaurant Eleganzza in Valladolid ( see Valladolid - Traveling alone)
We were both thinking about the great experience of getting to know each other in her restaurant, town and home.
Beach re-entry and more Spanish writing complete, finally it was time to return to the Motorhome. Mary enjoyed her time living in it and camp hosting while I was gone. She had just completed her last shift and was beginning to think about her next move.
I left my suitcase in the car and acted like a guest during our one week visit and transition. We did a lot of talking - Mary is pretty good with Spanish too and she helped launch my current learning curve two years ago with a very memorable lesson about how to to conjugate verbs.
On Sunday I went to the local farmers market and bought a tamale for lunch from a very Spanish speaking vendor just so I could have a conversation with her. The tamale was good, too, of course!
After two nights we moved the Motorhome out of the camp host spot
to a no-hookup spot Mary was comped for three nights which was really good to have available to us since it was July 4 holiday time.
On July 4, I rode my bike ( thanks to Connie who gifted me her bike when I left Auburn in December) the 6 miles north to visit with some camp host friends who had a ocean front comp spot ( as camp hosts we are allowed two complementary weeks but they are hard to schedule due to high demand and small number of available sites). When I arrived I was thrilled to be introduced to Elena's friend Elvita from Peru. I asked "Tu hablas español?"
She said Si! and I madre every one laugh because I clapped, jumped up and down with joy and launched into my under-utilized Spanish. We traded contact information too!
My camp host buddy, Elana on the right is Latina too, but I never knew that since we did not talk about it before this trip. Interesting!
When Mary and I ran out of free nights at the beach, we moved inland to a Thousand Trails campground that Mike and I have stayed in every year after finishing up at the beach.
As usual this time of year, it was hot. Not just hot - red hot 113 degrees. So Mary and I took a day off for board games in the clubhouse air conditioning because even with the A/C running on high, the Motorhome could not stay cool.
So the next morning, before it got too hot again, Mary took off one day early and I got my house back. I enjoyed the transition time and visiting with my long time friend ( we know each other from the Stockton years when we were both having babies) but after 10 days I was ready to unpack and get settled in before starting the trip north.
My first act was to take a day trip up to high country to get out of the heat. I met my nephew Jimmy at a restaurant for lunch
Then went even higher to the cute town of Idlywild which has been on my list since we started coming to South Carlsbad, but due to health challenges, Mike and I never made it together. Too bad - he would have liked it too. I figured it was a good was to spend my birthday - cooler at 7,000 feet in the mountains.
I took one full stay-at-home day ( I did not even go to the pool for exercise) to begin the moving in, rearranging, purging process which I really enjoy. If it hasn't been used or moved in months, it is taking up space! I didn't complete the project in this one day, but I put a big dent in it and had a relaxing time doing it!
Next up was an overnight trip to visit Mary Pienton in Lake Forest ( Orange County). Mary worked at Touche Ross & Co in Grand Rapids Michigan way back in our right-out-of-college days. We have been staying in touch from afar over the years, and she arrived in Orange County about the same time we started hosting at South Carlsbad, so now we are neighbors again. We got caught up poolside in the afternoon, then I tagged along to her volunteer gig at the Laguna Beach art festival and pageant where they turn a series of larger than life sized painting replicas into living art with all the back stage activity of more traditional theatre. Very interesting and enjoyable.
The next morning I drove south to my old neighborhood and hooked up with Robin for a walk at the beach, and then we joined Beth for lunch in Encinitas. Both these friends came to me through Mike's disease. Robin lost her husband two years ago and Beth is still caregiving for her Mike. Here we are last year when Beth and Mike came to visit us at the beach
My last act in Carlsbad this year was to go over to Beth and Mike's house to watch the All-Star game on TV with Mike. He and my Mike are both baseball fans. Every year Mike and I make a point of finding an interesting place to watch the game. This year I shared the experience with Beth's Mike instead and we toasted Mike Tomczak and honored his extraordinary baseball knowledge over a beer. Perfect for all of us!
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