Just me and my dad

This weekend my dad and I took a spur of the moment trip to San Diego for 3 days. We were both desperate to get out of town and San Diego seemed like a good spot. As kids we went to San Diego for vacation every year, sometimes twice a year. So this past weekend was a weekend of reflection and an attempt to get away from the tears for a few days. We spent the better part of our time visiting spots that we went to years ago when it was the four of us. Mission beach, old town San Diego, Point Loma, Sea Port Village, and more. We strolled along the board walk and looked for houses that we stayed at when we were younger. I swear if I closed my eyes I could picture all four of us walking on that board walk again. My mom's hair extra curly from the damp air and my sister's long, skinny legs runny along side of us.

I brought my camera with me to take some scenic pictures. It was foggy the majority of the time we were there, but on our last day the sun broke out. My dad and I were sitting on a bench, drinking our Starbucks and sitting under this tree. I looked up and saw the sun beaming through the leaves. I thought it was pretty. But I actually liked the fog too. It felt appropriate.



One of the highlights of the trip was visiting my great aunt Janet Richards. She was married to my great uncle, Sim Bruce Richards, who died many years ago. I have always wanted to visit with Janet because I loved reading about Bruce and remember from when I was a child how friendly he was to us kids. He was an architect and artist and I wish I had gotten a chance to know him as an adult. Janet is 93 and living in the house they built with their own hands more than 60 (maybe 70) years ago. She was the spriest woman I have ever met. Living on her own and still driving. A very caring and creative woman. I just wandered her house looking at all the art and admiring her garden. She fed us lunch and even that was made in such a creative way. After we left her house we both talked about what a neat woman she was and how great it was to sit and talk with her for a few hours. She blessed our visit, that's for sure.

Janet

The view of the bay from her back window. I could sit and stare for hours.

The 100 year old stove that she still cooks on.

The other highlight was just spending time with my dad. I introduced him to sushi. He took me on tours of the town and told me stories of his visits when he and my mom were younger. It was nice and a much needed get away for the both of us. However, it was still bittersweet. Nice to get away, but sad because Stephanie is still gone. I know that some day one (eventually both) of us will no longer be here. So we plan to do this as often as we can while we can. Next trip will include Greg and the kids. It's time to start building our family memories and vacations now.

And to end this post (because I can just hear my sister saying 'geez Joanna, you're depressing') here is a picture of Kat and Brody laying hands on Quinn.