California

Just this past week I got back from several weeks in California.  It has been almost 2 years since I was last home.  The trip went by way too fast but I did have time to see and spend quality time with those I most care about - my sons Chris in Reseda, Scott with his girlfriend Vanessa and her daughter Isabelle in Ventura.   Chad, Erin, & Rhino in San Diego, a short afternoon visit with Bob in Chula Vista, Steve & Pam in Nipomo, my former neighbors John and Kathy who now have my horse Cisco.  Brooke, Craig, Beau and their new puppy Niko in beautiful Shell Beach.  Many other friends whom I worked with at the courthouse in Santa Maria.

Highlights:  With Chris I spent a day at the LA Zoo and several days with him driving around LA for his job.  In San Diego, undisturbed girl talk with Erin, an afternoon with Chad checking out their new house and a family beach condo, along with a few surf shops while Erin remained at her parents house on bed rest awaiting the arrival of their first child Hunter.  Scott and I drove from Ventura to Pismo one day with 11 year old Isabelle while her mom stayed home sick.  Isabelle loves horses and so she got to ride on the beach for the first time in her life.  Another day Scott and I visited a number of beaches between Ventura and Santa Barbara where I introduced him to my obsession with sea glass.  Now he has it bad :) Breakfast w/Brooke & Craig, walks along the beach, a foggy afternoon riding Cisco and Bo on the beach, another evening out with both them, Pam and Steve.  An evening and morning with my dear friend Brian and his beautiful daughter Elizabeth in his sleepy little surf town - Cayucos.

For the first time in my life, as I went back and forth up the coast from Ventura to Pismo, as I have done many, many times in my life,  I stopped at a number of local surf spots.  Never in my life did I consider surfing in all the 30 years I lived in CA - but in Costa Rica - 85 degree water - it is my new love.  At every stop, as I sat their watching the waves, the surfers..... I was very conscious of this new awareness and how much it has now enriched my life.

It is never too late for an old dog to learn a new trick and I am so on it now.  I am beyond grateful for the gift of surfing Costa Rica has given me.

I'v now been back in EO for a week but hit the ground running.  Friends in town, outings, parties, a surf tournament, etc, etc.  I know........:)

Back in the land of .......Pura Vida.