It’s been a solid year and a half since we caught up with our California crew, so when a Bay Area work trip popped up for Shane earlier this month, I suggested he tack on a weekend a couple of extra plane tickets – Juliette and I were comin’ along! We arrived at Amanda’s house on a Friday evening just before bedtime, so I figured it would take until Saturday for the girls to warm up to each other. Clearly, I underestimated the social adeptness of six year-olds…there was a 15-minute coloring session, and then they were changing into pajamas together and snuggling up in Sadie’s bunk for bedtime books. I heard a solid hour of chatter after we’d turned out the lights. These girls take after their mamas!
Meanwhile, little Jack found a new best buddy in Shane, who went so far as to don an A’s hat for the sake of a smile.
Saturday was wide open, full of playtime and sun and a brewpub lunch.
Amanda is killin’ it as a mom of three now and spent most of the weekend with baby D asleep on her chest.
Shane and I took a walk together in the afternoon and strolled past my old house and my old school, memories popping up at every corner. There was the stretch of canal bank where I ran my daily miles for cross-country practice; the park where my high school’s “Senior Assassination” water gun fight kicked off; the house that hosted my neighborhood’s annual Fourth of July party; the corner ice cream shop (now a Starbucks) where a boy I liked used to hang out after school to watch golf with the owner. Meanwhile, Juliette played kickball in the street with Sadie and the neighbor kids. A couple of old friends joined us at Amanda’s and by dinnertime I was feeling all kinds of small-town feels. Turlock isn’t home anymore, but when I’m there I can’t help wondering, “What if we’d stayed? Would life be…easier?”
We snuggled up in the evening with Kelly C. for movies and popcorn and then tucked three very tired kiddos into bed.
Juliette and I were up before anyone else on Sunday morning and walked over to Starbucks (I liked it better as an ice cream shop!) for a steamer and a latte.
The kids hit the local trampoline gymnasium…
And then I hugged my girls good-bye. It was such a brief catch up, but was also an affirmation that we can always pick up right where we left off.
We drove over to Palo Alto on Sunday afternoon to spend one night there with Shane before his training started on Monday. We walked among the trees at Rancho San Antonio Preserve to Deer Hollow Farm Park, said hello to the chickens and the goats, and then soaked in the golden sunlight for a bit before heading out for dinner and a dip in the hotel pool.
Seriously, golden.
Juliette and I hugged Shane good-bye on Monday morning and then headed for the airport. She was such a stellar little travel buddy and took great pride in lugging around my suitcase and her booster seat. So helpful! I should start bringing her on my work trips.
I was feeling a bit blue on the flight home, bummed about leaving Turlock’s quiet streets for the hustle and bustle of the work week ahead, but as we began our descent and I caught sight of West Seattle with the Sound in the foreground and Mount Rainier in the distance, I was reminded: we belong here. Yes, houses are expensive and our jobs can be stressful and no one in this city can reminisce with me about Friday nights at the THS football games, but good God, it’s beautiful and it’s diverse and it’s home to people and a church and a landscape that all encourage us to be our best selves. I love a good walk down memory lane (maybe too much?), but we’re building our history here now. Feels good to be home.
