Sunday, October 12, 2008

Who are these old folks?

Yesterday I drove over to Santa Barbara for a get together. I have not been back for over 15 years. The occasion was brought about by the passing of one of the people I hung out with in and for a few years after high school. But a party was made of it! :-) I had not seen most of these folks since our kids were the age of the grandkids running around. A few folks I would not have recognized if they were not introduced but most, I hope I was one of them, were just matured versions of 20 some years ago. Except Susie, I am sure she just turned 40 :-). A good time was had by all sharing memories and catching up on where our lives are now. I am very glad I did not miss this.

Foot in mouth

I have a bad habit of engaging mouth before brain. And once again I stuck my foot in it. Just as we were leaving Mel or Susie asked if I was glad Amy talked me into coming. My brain was on the track of I had wanted to come all along and everybody else was on the track that Amy sent me the newspaper clipping to convince me I would be welcome even without a specific invitation. Mel, bless her heart, saw what was coming and popped in with a question that I had the right answer to and diffused the whole thing. I was in like Thousand Oaks before I figured it out.

Up against the wall

This was a long day. I had gotten up at my normal time of 4:30 and driven almost 8 hours, partied for about 3 and headed back across the desert. Just as I expected about 10PM, my normal bedtime, my body was telling me I had had enough and I was starting to feel sleepy. I was only an hour away from home but stopped at a rest stop and walked around and had a cigarette. It was 52° with the wind about 8-10mph and I was wearing shorts. I started shivering before the end of the cigarette but the effect was I was more awake. As I was driving down the last stretch of freeway my mind wandered off to sitting on the living room couch at the Lompoc house and Niki was reading me a book. I am pretty sure this was before she had started going to school and she read the entire book to me. The next thing I knew I was on a stretch of the freeway that didn't look right. I had to first figure out where I was and then get off and double back to get home. somehow I had stayed in my lane at the correct speed for about 6 miles of which I have no recollection of. Yes, it was a very long and very enjoyable day.

3 comments:

Knitterman said...

Okay, so who is Niki?

Glad you were able to stay awake and on the road while your brain was visiting other times and places!

Any pictures? Did you go see how much our old houses changed? In '89 I noticed both of our Balboa Dr. houses had been extensively remodeled.

Sundancer said...

So, ok, who cashed it in? Glad someone's in the loop, at least.

SharpScott said...

Alma Kay.