Guilty Pleasure

Guilty Pleasure

 I am a self assured very confident individual.  I don't like second guessing my self.  To second guess myself means that I made a questionable decision.  I think things through the first time around.  I don't mind visiting the past but I don't attempt to wish things had been different.  My guilt this time around comes from having beautiful young granddaughters that miss my absence so much that they get sad when the subject of grandpa comes up.  My wife says that whenever the youngest granddaughter gets in the car, she looks at the driver seat and asks about grandpa.

The pleasure part is spending time with my first born daughter.  Visiting siblings and their families (about every two or three years).  The other part of the pleasure is not having a definitive schedule (agenda).  The whole trip is being handled just like my real (retired) life.  I do things when I am good and ready, but everything that I want to do gets done.  Along the way I've met some very interesting people:  I went to a favorite breakfast restaurant that my wife and I discovered the last time we were in the area together (the service is just as good as I remember, and if possible the food is even better).  When I told our waitress about our history with the restaurant she treated us very special.  Later my daughter and I discovered a Mexican Foods Specialty Grocery Store. The store was a typical full size grocery store just like Albertson's or Super Safeway, with a bakery, deli, tortilla factory etc., you can't possibly find a better equipped store in Mexico.  We toured every isle of the store as a child tours a toy store.

While at the store I met man and woman waiting for a fresh fruit smoothie.  As is my nature I struck up a conversation with the couple in Spanish.  The lady said to me that it was good to see someone else with a health habit of eating or drinking my veggies and fruits.  Somehow the conversation came around to how she was older than me, and I said I real seriously doubted that.  Then I said to her that I wasn't in the habit of asking a lady for her age, but I said if I may inquire how old are you.  She was 81 (even showed me her State ID), and the man with her was her 62 year old son (I swear both looked in their 50's with a full head of hair). 

The staff on Alaska Airlines have been magnificent, the Hertz car rental company also magnificent, we are definitely getting the VIP treatment.  Our California family is treating us like guests of honor, and showing their love for us.  It’s a good thing I don't like to take advantage or we would move down here in a heartbeat.  The weather is summer like.  One day was 94 degrees, and today is 84 degrees.  Perfect weather for the beach areas that we visited recently.  The only things that are still adverse around here are the traffic bottle necks on all the freeways. A trip any were can be double or triple in length if you don't pick the right time for the trip.  I have seen three very bad accidents, where I suppose fatalities were likely, but I always say my prayers before starting any trip, and so far so good.

No matter how perfect and enjoyable this trip turns out, both my daughter and I are looking forward to our return to everyday life, and our loved ones that miss us and that we miss.  My daughter will return to her high strung daily routine in the medical field, and I guess I will return to my life of leisure (ho-hum, every day is Saturday except Sunday).

This mini vacation is half way through, and I will write one more post on the subject in the near future.  The best is yet to come….