Running Late in California

 
What a day! What a weekend!

A while back Laurie let me know she was flying down to California to spend time with her family. Well, I too am always looking for a reason to head south and spend a little R&R with my family. So I asked if I could fly with her... we booked the tickets and we got here on Friday.

I couldn't have picked a better weekend to go. I don't even think I knew how much I needed a weekend away and with my family.

Each day was different except for 1 thing which I cherish so much. Every morning I would wake up to the smell of a fresh pot of coffee and my Aunt Jody sitting at the table that overlooks the front area of the house. The dining table is in a little sitting nook with four big windows that open up to the front of the house. We always see some sort of animal or bird wandering across the dusty drive. And along with that there is always conversation about the Lord, what he is teaching us, reading in the word and speaking his truth. It is a time that feeds me and is something I miss deeply when I go home. I have grown accustom to our early morning chats while sipping on a cup of coffee, pausing our discussion to look at a hawk teaching her baby how to fly, or a funny little squirrel, a coyote wandering by or maybe someday a bobcat or cougar crossing the way (she has seen many do that here, I am still waiting).
 

This week has been low key and wonderful. I have spent much of it with my sweet grandma, who recently lost her dear husband. I have realized that as she grows older (she is 81 or 82 now) time gets shorter and shorter with her. We spent the second evening together chatting over dinner and wandering through the mall late at night.

Yet today was the entertaining day! :)

I was supposed to go to church with my family this morning but our house (my aunt and cousin - my uncle left early for church) accidentally slept in past our alarms. ALL OF US! Both my Aunt and I woke up in a fog and decided to listen to church online and meet the others for breakfast at the country club. I went back to lay down and my Aunt told me to be ready 10 minutes before 10:00 am. Somehow I heard 10:40 am. Luckily I can get ready REALLY fast!

Breakfast was wonderful and then my cousin and I decided to go to the beach. Off to Venice/Santa Monica beach!


On the way there my cousin, who has lived in LA her whole life, got us lost and it took us about 30+ minutes to get there. We laughed at how many other stories we have in our lives of getting lost and the adventures that have come from it. :)

We rented bikes at a little bike shop in Venice where we had to get them back by 7pm. We took off riding our cruisers’ heading to what we believed was towards Santa Monica.


Also, while riding.  Kelly Jo ended up crashing twice.  Once time some guy wasn't paying attention to where he was going and practically ran into her.  The first time though was all her fault.  She was going between a bush and a fire hydrant. Somehow she ended up brushing the bush, no big deal right... well, it got her just off balance that she ended up crashing.  I was good enough to take a picture, while laughing SO hard!

Somehow the both of us thought that we were heading the right way... about 30 minutes into the ride and half way around the harbor we decided to look at our map. We had headed the opposite way of the beach! Now we had to go all the way back.

 Santa Monica was only supposed to be .07 miles from Venice, where we got the bike. I think that by the time we were done riding we did well over 3 miles! :) Finally we got to the pier. We had a short smoothly break, took a minute out by the beach, looked at the time and realized we have 30 minutes to get back!!!

So for the 2nd time today we raced back to get to the bike shop in time. Luckily we didn't realize how quickly you can get from the two places when you are heading the right direction! :) We got back in plenty of time to give our bikes back.

Whew, an exciting afternoon, now time for some dinner.

We drove over to Santa Monica pier where we parked the car in a lot... as we were driving in the lady made sure we understood that the car garage closed down at 10pm. **hint hint - look at the rest of the day and you will see where this is going** We smiled and said that would be fine... headed in and started walking down the promenade looking for food.


Dinner was wonderful, we enjoyed our time. Talked about what the Lord is teaching us and fellowshipped together. The two groups beside us continue to look over at the two of us and I pray that we were able to encourage their walk or be a witness to them through our talking. Dinner ended and we started to walk away. Lazily I picked up my phone and looked at it. 9:59pm!

Oh no, our car!?!?!?!

And then we starting our run! About a quarter of a mile our car was in the garage that we parked it... the garage where the lady kindly reminded us before we parked that they closed completely at 10pm! We ran until we got there and as we got there the last 2 feet of the garage door was closing.

Both of us sat there laughing nervously. Because although it was funny we weren't sure what we were going to do. I fly out in the morning and we drove my rental car, which I HAVE to return to the airport the other day. We discussed who we knew in the area and what we could do. Then we realized the lady was still down in the garage. So the next few minutes were us flagging her down. Finally we were let in and allowed to get our car to leave.


What an ending to an adventurous day! :)


Let's hope flying home tomorrow doesn't include running late!