California Phase 3...You Can't Really Go Home Again

Sunday after the news about Jim, we all headed for church for another amazing service at a second CA church.� Dynamic praise team and an amazing sermon.�



Following church, we headed to the Orange County Fair , which is a very big deal!� We apparently missed Adam Lambert by a week, which sucks as I love him.� But the fair is huge; rides, vendors, entertainment, food, wine, you name it.� We didn't even get through the whole thing.







The kids rode this, though Aaron came off it a wee bit green in the gills.







Which left me to have to ride this with JJ. Gotta love a Tilt-a-Whirl.� He hates it when I lean into the spin to try to make it go faster.



For the life of me, I cannot remember what we did for dinner that night, but Monday was a really busy day for us.� Beach Sister and Hubby were working, so we decided to head to my hometown of Monrovia .� So much had change, that I cannot even put it into words, but we did find my old house, which from the outside was still incredible.







I loved this house and they had apparently added a second floor, which was not there when we owned it.







My first disappointment was that, per the contractor who was on site, the inground pool we had put in had been filled in the week before and they were now making it a garage.� But even that could not prepare me for what I saw when I looked through the windows (the owner was not at home):







Every room we could see looked like this.� The contractor told us she was apparently a hoarder (Ya think?).� It was not a case of just moving in as she had lived there for five years.� The house had been on the market until just before our trip.� Cannot image why she could not sell it.� So disappointing.� It is a magnificent home and it deserves so much better.



From there, we went to my old school of First Lutheran .� The church was locked and there was a pull gate that separated us from the back of the school, which had just enough room for me to squeeze through.� My kids were freaking out by what I was doing but I could hear voices around the corner and wanted to see who was there and besides, I looked harmless enough.� Turns out, there were two adults and a bunch of kids there and the woman was nice and asked if she could help me.� I explained that I had gone to school here and was in California visiting.� She asked me what my last name had been and I told her and her face lit up and she said, "Kim!� It's Carla!"�



Carla and I had gone to school here together and she was the new principal.� I swear, this trip had me stepping back in time, to an amazing time in my life, before I had been torn away from my home.� Though I have wonderful friends in Maryland, the memories of being taken away from Monrovia more than once had been painful ones and for a day or two, it felt as if I had never left and that my parents had never been totally indecisive.� We chatted for a bit, she let me in the church and allowed me to tour the school, which was awesome.







The sanctuary.







My kindergarten room.



Sadly, I left Monrovia and we headed to the Griffith Conservatory , which was closed but we still had some great views of LA and most importantly, this semi-famous sign:







As it was Aaron's 15th birthday, we drove to the every lovely Malibu and treated him to a lobster lunch at Gladstones , which is known for celebrity sightings.� Sadly, we didn't see any, but I think Aaron enjoyed the lunch and the fabulous ocean view.







We drove back to Huntington Beach via the ever beautiful Pacific Coast Highway.� On the drive back to Huntington Beach, I got a call from Robyn that Jasmine, my sickly cat, was not doing well.



I would lose her by morning.� Though it grieved me greatly, I made arrangements for the vet to keep her body until Emily's hubby, Dave, picked her up to bury her for me.� I just could not go home and deal with that part of it, without having been there for her when she left this world.� She had been ailing with thyroid and heart problems and I knew we were not winning the battle and I knew we would lose her to this.� I just wish she had waited until I had gotten home, but maybe with losing Jim, I wasn't meant to deal with it.�



That morning, after getting the news and shedding some tears, I crossed something off my bucket list.



I had a run alongside the ocean.