Car Rides, Sunsets, and lots of margaritas mixed up in a human-sized blender gets you a one hell of a 2010 4th of July.
It starts with a morning interview, a rush home, and shoving luggage into the trunk of my mother-in-law's Mustang convertible. With our dog in the back seat and the radio properly set to the 60's channel we're headed south to the California border. Along the way we see an old, operating, fire truck and one of the largest speedboats I've ever seen in my life. There are countless car wrecks along the way with similar amounts of rubber necking occurring simultaneously.
We finally arrive at our destination in Oceanside, CA. Promptly around 5pm we arrive at a relative’s house and settle in for the night. Oceanside is a part of California that I'd like the opportunity to explore more someday. Although it was a very quick pit stop along our journey we ate well, had some evening wine, and a healthy amount of laughter.
Joining us for the last trek to San Diego were our relatives we'd stayed with and their grand children. We all arrived in San Diego with time to spare and in need of showers, food, and the feeling of the cool ocean breeze on our faces.
Along this journey I discovered a lot about my new family and simply "the way they are". Not every family operates the same. Through the last three or four years I've bubbled myself among my own family and friends to the point my tolerance only fits into those people. To put it in short we had our disagreements on this trip, things exposed and unexpected. We had those quintessential moments that bring it to your attention that this "IS" family now and not just a bunch of people you hang out with once a year.
After the hurt feelings and passive aggressive bullshit we all had the maturity to move on from it. My husbands family really understands how to move on from things that are not as important as we make them out to be in the moment. I am impressed with those qualities. I do not like yelling, or people raising their voices for petty reasons. I found out that some people literally communicate this way and at most for fun. Adjusting is the word best used for my experiences this Fourth of July.
Later into the trip my husband’s sister and her husband joined us. There's a lot going on with each individual in this family. Each person has there own battle going on right now. Sometimes these battles can bring out the best in people, the sides to those people you know have always been there. There is an opposite to the battle, the side that none of us really want to be on, but someone has to face it while others begin to clean up the mess it made. Each family member has a part in a change this year that will inevitably take part in painting an entirely new picture this time next year.
The first night there was a sunset. The type of sunset that comes around once every three or four years. I was fortunate to capture this sunset. Between the orange and yellow there was a black ocean serving its reflection well.
On the second day we had sunshine. The only day we had sunshine was on the second day and then it hid like a coward behind it's foggy clouded days. Carpe Diem was the theme for that sunny day, gathering our things we headed across the bridge to Coronado and cruised the oceanside in search for a beach we could swim and let the dog swim. Do not be fooled by California's open policies because they really didn't want dogs on their beaches, not in Coronado. We snuck the pup in anyways.
After wonderful seafood dinner we slept like logs in our rented beds until we were woken up by an antsy puppy that needed to go to the bathroom. Walking out of the hotel in a zombie daze I let the dog empty his bladder and move onto his next destination. Each morning, after two cups of coffee, there was a meeting for breakfast and then a short break before the first excursion of the day.
Fourth of July was a wonderful day. With a red, white, & blue scull t-shirt I prepared for the firework show of the year in my own patriotic fashion. With confidence I can say that the fireworks in San Diego, CA are some of the best I've ever seen, two years running. A unity of families, friends, and country gathered by the bay shore for an hour of pride and proper partying.
I crossed paths with strangers, families, attitudes, birds, dogs, ideals, and history on this trip. There was a great deal of hospitality everywhere we went and no lack of thankfulness from each person surrounding us. San Diego gave us a pleasant welcome and extended stay.
As the trip wound up with smiles on our faces and food in our stomachs we all realized that we were thankful. We were all thankful for being together, for a healthy family, long talks, overdue walks, and feeling like there was really something to celebrate. I remember as a child feeling similar to that kind of thankfulness, a true sense of patriotic pride that I could feel from everyone around me. There's always something else for us to learn about each other, our countrymen, and ourselves in general. We gave thanks to our troops and our past. No matter the differences in political opinions within our direct company of family and friends we knew we needed to leave with a sense of pride and we did.
The jumbled junctions are mixed in with the family experiences and figuring out which roads to take a stand on and which ones to simply walk away from. It was truly a family vacation. A new tradition is officially born and we will join once a year to pay tribute to each other and our country. Where else to do it than on the bay that harbors so many brave souls each day?
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