Good grief, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted here. Such is life....
To say things have been busy here is an understatement. July was about football practice and getting ready to go back to school, and working lots of hours. I can hardly believe it's already August 17! Christian started his sophomore year of high school and Mackenzie started the 8th grade, Jade will start classes the end of the month and I turned 41!
For my birthday, my mom decided she wanted to take me away for the weekend, to Laguna Beach where I was born. We left on Friday and after we checked into our hotel we went to the Sawdust Festival and the Art A Fair, both were fantastic. I love galleries, paintings, sculptures, photography, hand made jewelry and all the stuff that comes with artists. Friday evening we went back to our hotel and got dressed up (mom insisted) and had dinner at what is now called The Lumberyard. When I was little it was the Ivy House, then it became Cedar Creek...all of which we have loved. Dinner was lovely.
After a goodnight's sleep, we had some breakfast and walked all around downtown Laguna. It was one of those "oh this used to be a flower shop, and this used to be Swenson's Ice Cream and that was the bank" etc. So, I started taking pictures. My mom took me all over, from the place she and my dad lived when they were first married, the hospital I was born in, our first house, where I went to preschool, my elementary school, the restaurant my parents owned etc. I took lots of picture as we were going around you can find them on Facebook if you'd like to see them. The coolest thing about the whole weekend was going to the restaurant my parents owned, the GM was awesome. He gave us a tour of the whole place, showed us all the changes that had been made, even walked us through the kitchen and back office. My mom told me that the walk in refrigerator, walk in freezer and the tile in the kitchen are the one's my grandfather put in back in the early 70's! It was great to have that time with my mom, she's been under a lot of stress the last several months with my step-dad being so sick. I know that this was one of those things that I will look back on and cherish.
Last weekend was a high school reunion of sorts....they've been doing this beach bash thing with multiple classes invited for the past couple of years, this was the first year I went. It was great to see so many lovely faces. It was good to catch up with some dear friends from the past...it was also weird to see some folks doing the same thing 23 years later. Some people haven't gotten the memo that it was time to grow up.
All in all, the last month has been good, but very much a trip down memory lane. When I was in Laguna, I had lots of thoughts like "what if my parents had never split up, what if I'd grown up here" etc....I guess more opportunities to grieve, oh joy, LOL!!
At the end of the day, I find even more reasons that I need beauty and rest for my soul.
I hope you find the same.
Ciao.
