Living by the screams of the Roller Coaster

8.15.10 Laguna Niguel

A day in the city of San Diego. We left in the late morning to drive down to San Diego to have Steph take her dad to Hairspray at the theatre in downtown San Diego. We thought that we had left in plenty of time so that we could pick up her dad at the retirement community, go to Costco to return an item and drop them off at the theatre for a two o'clock show. As soon as we got on the freeway there was stop and go traffic that continued all the way to San Diego. Steph travels to see her dad on a regular basis and she said that she had never seen it like this. There appeared to be no rhyme or reason, but possibly just a lot of people trying to go to San Diego for what may have been one of the last weekends before some of the schools start in the area.

We were so late that we were not able to take her dad to Costco or get him something to eat before the play. Ted and I dropped Steph and her dad off at the theatre and then found our way out of downtown San Diego and over to Mission Bay. We were going to meet my sorority sister Donna Sinclair at my camp friend, Teri Brewer's (Goby) home in Mission Beach. Again we confronted some of the worst traffic we had seen. I guess that every person that we saw on the freeways going down there must have been coming to go to the beach in Mission Beach because there was absolutely no place to park in what seemed like miles around the roller coaster park. We finally used found a spot and ended up meeting Donna at the corner and walking in with her. We each had taken over a half an hour to find a spot.

When we got to Teri's she was not there. She also had been traveling south on the five and it had taken her from 9:30 to 2:30 to get down to San Diego from LA. We were all frazzled.

I used to live right on Mission Beach Blvd in my last semester at San Diego State. My little shack of a house was no longer there, but the wooden roller coaster was and Harry's market had moved around the corner. The young girls were still screaming as the old wooden roller coaster dropped them to the ground and plunged them up hill again. There were many new condos that had replaced the olderr buildings especially on the bay and the ocean, but I still love the little courts with the houses built in the twenties.

Memories flooded back of living a block from the bay and a block from the ocean. Still one of the most amazing places to live with such great sailing on the bay and the wildness of the ocean so close to each other. When I lived there with Mary and Linda we had my brothers' Sabot sailboat that they had made from a kit. We used to store in behind our house and then we would walk it down to the bay, plop it in and go for a great sail. I also remember that I I went swimming on my 22nd brithday in the ocean on November 6th. It was cold but I felt as if I was doing a wonderful act of courage in honor of my birthday. Not sure I will do the same this year for my 60th.

The beach seemed packed and noisy and the walk ways were filled with people walking, running, roller blading, riding bikes, ringing the bells on their bikes as they passed each other on the lanes. Teri was unsure why it was so crowded but we had a lovely time sitting out her patio and showing Ted the bay and the ocean. Then we all went to meet Steph and her dad for a great dinner back in downtown San Diego.

I was exhausted from the city when we got home. I think it is the barrage of energy that gets me, the sounds, the traffic, the people that are each trying to navigate their way through the day and their needs come bumping into yours. I really did not get a chance to look at or experience the city where I spent three and half years of my life. I was too busy trying to help Ted or Steph navigate the traffic and keep up with directions on my iPhone. I felt my job was to help us get from point A to point B in the appointed time frame. I did pop my head up on occasion and see a truly beautiful city... but I also felt the noise, the poking of all the stimulation, all the comings and goings into my energy field. Maybe we will come back when we can feel it in the winter, when it is calmer, the screams have died down and walk the beach in more solitude.