Life

Chris and I took advantage of the long weekend to visit family in Southern California. The trip, as it turned out, started off differently than we had first envisioned it. After our flight landed, we headed to San Diego for my great Aunt Roz's funeral. Aunty Roz was my grandmother's sister, and we had spent a lot of time with her as kids. She owned a boutique, and when she closed it she gave my sister and I all kinds of costume jewelry that we loved to play dress-up with. Years later she discovered a box of brand-new scarves from the store, and she gave us those as well. I still have them. She took us shopping, and sometimes she, my grandmother, sister and I would play Yahtzee together. I will miss her, but I am glad that she no longer suffers. I wish I had seen her more often in the last few years. And though we didn't plan it this way, I am glad we were there for the service, to say goodbye, and to see family members we otherwise might not have seen, and share memories together.

Back in L.A. the next day the weather was quite toasty for January - 80 degrees! - so a visit to the beach was in order.

That night Dad, Deb, Chris and I went out for a nice dinner to celebrate my Dad's birthday.

And on the final day of the trip, we spent the afternoon and evening with at my cousin Jen's house, where we met the newest addition to the family, her daughter Josephine, who is too precious for words, and played with Juliette, who is getting so big and talking up a storm and kept Chris busy playing all night.

It was a nice trip, and we wish we could visit everyone more often.