Stormy Sea

Hello, everyone!

Hope today finds you happy and well!  I'm still very sore from my bang-up of a fall yesterday, especially my right knee and hip.  I must have hit the floor with those areas.  My first step of this morning could be described as: OUCH!  That wasn't EXACTLY what I said, but you get the picture.

Today I'm going back in time to when I first came to Arizona to live and work after that fateful trip Mom and I had in May of 1993 and we saw how bad Grandpa was with Alzheimer's.  I originally came to help Grandma with him, but he died of pneumonia, so I was glad to be here for her as she went through a very bad time.  She missed the man he USED to be and that is who she grieved for when he died.  We both did and still do.  I'll think of something funny and I gotta tell my grandpa, then I know he's gone and I get sad.  I hope my mom and her dad are having a party up there in Heaven!!  They deserve it!!

When I flew in from Chicago to Las Vegas, NV on October 31st, I guess you would say I was re-born.  New place. New job. New roommate (my grandma). The ONLY thing I remember about that flight was the flight attendants where wearing costumes. I remember getting a coke from a flight attendant dressed as the Devil!  I took some Dramamine before the trip so I could sleep, as I was balling about leaving my parents (I'm an only child and we are a very close family!) and didn't want to carry that over to the plane.  Crying four hours at 30,000 ft over the country didn't appeal to me.  My grandma was so sweet, though, she picked me up in Las Vegas as she thought it would be fun and exciting for me.  She was right.  I will never forget, as long as I live, how beautiful the lights of the Strip were over Vegas as the plane landed at night.  There were even slot machines in the airport!  My grandma and her friend, Betty, weren't there yet to pick me up, which kind of worried me because all I had to my name was $75.00 (which was mom's last $75.00, I am quite sure!) and my suitcase.  But they came after thinking I would be landing at the main airport instead of the charter plane airport.  We spent three days in Vegas and headed to Yuma.

Getting used to life in Yuma was hard. I missed my mom and dad everyday and I would call them frequently.  My new job at the hospital was challenging. I felt like an idiot at every turn because you don't know what you are doing yet, so you ask a lot of questions and then think your patients THINK you are an idiot!!  But I finally learned the ropes.

My grandma was her usual wonderful self.  She knew how homesick I was, so she planned all these little trips.  My first trip to San Diego at Thanksgiving to see the ocean; Palm Springs at Christmas and Laughlin, NV for New Year's.  I loved the San Diego trip the most.  As usual, I took lots of pics.  I'll show you a few in a minute.   When we went to San Diego (which is my FAVORITE place in the world, I think!) we couldn't have chosen a lousier day.  It was rainy and stormy, but oh, my goodness!  The pictures I have of the storm-churned sea can't be beat!!  At first Grandma wouldn't find the beach (we were always getting lost!) so she tried to pawn off on me this little pond we kept passing that was the ocean, just a little smaller than usual.  I didn't buy it!!!
We finally found Pacific Beach and I took a lot of my pictures there.

 Look at them there swayin' palm trees.  There was quite a gust that would come up from the ocean and just about blow you over!

Grandma and I walked to the end of the pier.  She's probably gonna kill me for putting her picture up on the 'net, but some things are worth dying for! LOL!  Don't worry, Grandma, I'm putting my picture (next) up!

 There I be, waving at all of you folks at home!  I just ADORE San Diego. Have I mentioned that yet?  Hehehehe.....the next batch of pictures are the stormy sea taken from the pier.

This next photo was taken near La Jolla, California. I think it is one of my faves in this group of pictures.  La Jolla is a really ritzy area of San Diego and all the posh go there.  Grandma and I took the scenic route through there so I could get some photos.

 And last, but certainly not least, here is a photo that me, my mom and Grandma all called "The Church of the Lost."  Quite simply, every time we would go to San Diego, we would get lost.  I don't care how many times we planned our trip out before we went or what map we used, we would ALWAYS end up on I-5 by this church.  So now, it's such a familiar site, we use this church as a marker to tell us where to go!  It's such a beautiful church.  Mom wasn't real big on GPS, she didn't want to take orders from some "voice in a box."  My hubby and I can't live WITHOUT our GPS!

I never have regretted moving to Arizona from Michigan. In fact, I can't imagine going back.  Arizona is such a beautiful state with its mountains and gorgeous sunsets and we are close to California and the ocean and to Vegas.  It can't be beat!!!  So thank you, Grandma, for letting me live with you for six months to get used to my job and to save money so that my parents could come out the following April of 1994.  I'll never forget the fun we had and I really appreciate you.  If I never said it enough growing up, I'm saying it now: I love and really appreciate you!!!

That'll do for today's post.  Hope everyone is having a good day.
God bless ya all!
Until next post,
Missy