Leaving LaPaloma 4-20-12
We had a beautiful breakfast on the patio over looking the
pools this morning. The little
birds were flying about. When the
people at the table next to us left about 10 birds landed on the table and
started feasting on the left over toast and fruit. Kathryn would have loved the little birds. We used our extra toast to make P&J
sandwiches for the ride. After
breakfast we went for a swim. It
was already very hot (closing in on 100).
The swim was great! We sat
by the pool for a while then checked out the gift shopped. While going through the gift shop it
was hard not to think about what I should get for Kathryn. She would have loved the hats with the
sparkles in them. She would have
loved the Christmas ornaments that were cacti decked out with Christmas
lights. I bought the ornament that
I thought she would have liked.
Maybe she would have liked another one better but this one was light in
weight and will hang on the tree better.
It is glass and will glow nicely with the lights on the tree. I almost
bought the hat too but I didn’t want to overspend. Then we packed up and headed out.
We were approximately one hour out form our next destination
when we ran into a serious traffic issue.
Both lanes going in our direction came to a stop and then just crept
along. Slowly we made it to the
site of the accident. A tracker
trailer and a pick –up pulling a huge barbeque with a big sign on top had run into each
other. Who knows who cut who
off. They were off the road but
you know how people just have to stop to take a look. It added over an hour to our driving time. Oh, we were in the middle of the desert
and the temp was over 100. Thank
goodness for AC.
We are staying at my cousin’s house in Anthems. It has a gorgeous country club and the
house is fabulous. We ran into a
couple of problems. The first pool
was closed for a Luau. The second
pool said we had to have a guest pass and we didn’t. So we didn’t get to swim. Oh well.
We had a wonderful dinner with my cousin Ethan Nightengale
and his girlfriend Melinda. It was
a very nice evening. Ethan is a
nice young man. He just lost his
Dad in a car accident not even a year ago. Two years or so ago his Mom died. He just has his sister now. The two of them are having issues over stuff. I hate to see it when siblings have a
hard time getting things divided up when the parents pass away. Some times the stuff should just be
handled by an outside person who can just follow the will and not have any
feelings involved. They only have
each other and stuff isn’t nearly as important as having your family together. Richard would have given his life for
Kathryn. He would have done
anything God asked him to do if only he would have saved her. I know he prayed and offered whatever
it would take to keep his sister alive.
Tomorrow we will have breakfast with Ethan’s sister Diane
and her husband Vince. I hope I
can impress upon her the importance of having Ethan close to her. I don’t want to get mixed up in the
handing out the stuff just helping her remember that her brother is blood and
he is her family forever. They
should be looking out for each other.
I’m glad that Scott’s family handled this pretty well.
I didn’t cry about Kathryn until tonight. Sometimes the tears just flow and they
are like a steady stream down my face.
When I realize it is all for real I get so upset. I wanted so badly to call her while we
were driving today. I wanted to
share what we have been doing and tell her about the little birds at breakfast. I wanted to share about the
hummingbirds I saw this morning and all the little bunnies I saw this
evening. There were a dozen wild
bunnies on the T-box this evening as we drove by. Bunnies are everywhere here. She would have wanted to coax them with some food and get
them to eat out of her hands. I
really miss her.
Getting away has been good. I shared with Ethan and Melinda the time when our dog was
hit by a car and died. We didn’t
have any children at the time so they were our children. When Cruiser died we were so sad that
we had to leave the house. We took
the loop around the peninsula for several days. We took our other dog Ellee who was Cruiser’s mom with
us. As we were heading home and
about 10 miles out we looked at each other and cried. When we did get home Ellee looked all through the house for
Cruiser. She was sad too.
I’m going to wash the tears from my face and get to bed.
Good Night
4-21-12
We had a wonderful breakfast with my cousin Diane and her
husband Vince this morning. Well
more of a snack. I do think Diane
is really feeling the stress of losing both of her parents so close
together. I reminded her that her
brother is her family and he will always be family. I just told her that I hope that she and her brother will
come to terms and love each other like their parents would want them to. Family is the most important
thing. Stuff is just that – Stuff. I also sent her a the quote form
Kathryn, “A minute upset is 60 seconds wasted.” I feel so bad for the two of them. They seem to be lost but I think Diane is realizing that she
can do things differently and it will help her be happy.
Speaking of happy – This trip is helping me find my
happiness that is for sure. I will
never stop missing Kathryn and I will probably cry about my loss but I can also
be happy they way she would want me to be.
Scott and I arrived in Anaheim around 4:30. When we got 81 miles out of LA we saw
the smog. Scott couldn’t believe
it. He kept asking me is that
really smog? I kept saying, yep
that is smog. And the
traffic. Oh my goodness. There were 6 lanes of traffic
completely filled with cars fro as far as you could see. Scott said, “It’s a sea of cars.” It looked kind of neat because it was
going in the opposite direction.
Before we saw smog when driving through Palm Desert we saw
hundreds and hundreds of windmills.
I thought there were a lot in Eastern Washington. No there are not a lot in Eastern
Washington when you compare it to this area. And it was 103 to 105 most of the way.
While we were checking in I noticed a small Disney
shop. Of course Kathryn came to
mind. She loved Disneyland and the
Disney store. When it was in the
Tacoma Mall we always went into the Disney store. I have been using her Mini Mouse bag lately. It is beautiful. We bought when she and I went to
Disneyland together back in 2003 or 2004.
We had such a good time. At
California Adventures we road the big roller coaster over and over until we got
the perfect photo. There were no
lines at all. I think we road it
at least 12 times in a row. We
knew ever turn and just where the camera was.
No accidents to slow us down today. Thank goodness for that.
We are off to dinner now. I will blog again tomorrow night now that I have Internet.