Today was Jan's turn to have a reunion with an old friend, and I went along, too, as I knew her friend Rita also. Their friendship goes back to college days and before, but we hadn't really seen her in at least 25 years. Once again, this was a Facebook-facilitated connection.
Rita lives in Nampa, Idaho, but was down visiting her son in Camp Pendleton. He had just finished with his second deployment to Iraq (thank you, Steven). We agreed to meet this morning at the mission in San Juan Capistrano, since it's about halfway between Pendleton and HB. Rita brought her 2 year old granddaughter, Sarah. (Sorry if it's spelled Sara, I forgot to ask). Sara is a very well-behaved little towhead, and clung to Grandma Rita's leg for much of the early part of the visit.
Admission to the mission includes a free audio tour now, so we had our headsets and were at about our 3rd exhibit when one of the volunteers came up, talked to Sarah, and said she would come back with some food for her to feed the fish. She wound up bringing back a 10-ounce Dixie cup filled about 2/3 of the way to the top with tiny fish pellets. She walked us to the pond, which was brimming with Koi (sp?) and told Sarah to start tossing pellets into the water. So she did--one at a time. I roughly calculated at that rate she had about 6 hours worth of fish food, and I was parked in a 3-hour zone. So I tried to speed things up. I showed her how to pour a little in her hand and throw it all at once, and she enjoyed the feeding frenzy that followed. By the time we were done, she was holding food out over the water and watching them bob their heads out of the water. I kept waiting for her to say, "speak!!" She then had me hold out my hand, and I got to demonstrate that I, too, knew how to feed the fish. We finally ran out of food, she wanted more but didn't throw a fit when told there was no more. Then (this is the best part), she held out her hands and said, "Carry me, Grampa Rick."
There are few greater feelings in the world than to know you have earned the trust of a small child. So I joyfully hoisted her up, fuzzy brown backpack and all, and we started off the view the next stop, the J. Serra chapel. (I was also thinking that this is why Jesus uses such harsh language when discussing those who would violate that trust). Sarah dutifully remained quiet inside the beautiful chapel, which contains paintings of the 14 stations of the cross, and a 300-year old gold altar imported from Spain.
This was my 3rd or 4th visit to mission SJC, but by far the best. First of all was my new friend Sarah, and secondly it was the first time that our visit was not shared with 200 busloads of 4th graders. After a couple of hours I realized this could not have happened just this way a year ago, since I would still have been at work (sorry, I'm really NOT rubbing it in. I'm just happy to be retired and genuinely sad for those of you who aren't but want to be.)
We visited their latest exhibit, a tribute to the California gold rush, and we played in a tent, played checkers and tic tac toe (sort of), occasionally stopping for Sarah to energize with another animal cracker from her backpack.
Went to lunch at Ruby's, which has the built in babysitter of a train circling the area on an elevated track. Finally time to go, and Sarah insisted on a kiss and hug outside the car and once again when she was buckled into her carseat. One byproduct of my friendship with Sarah is that Jan and Rita had plenty of time to catch up. They headed back to Pendleton and we to HB. Sarah's parents are trying to decide whether to stay in the Marines when their hitch is up or to get out and try the job market. It was great to have Rita share how these two met in the Marines, have returned to a relationship with God, and are doing a couples devotional in preparation for the rest of their lives together.
So, I had a great day with a little girl who, unless some pieces come together, I may never see again. There's a chance that her parents will move to Nampa, Idaho to be near Grandma Rita when their hitch is up, and that's the scenario that gets my vote. We now have at least 5 families to visit the next time we make it up that way.
On the way home we decided to run by Marriott's Newport Coast Villas, our first timeshare we bought 6 years ago and haven't visited since. We are booked there this summer and may actually stay there this time, so we were "scouting" which building we wanted to request. The facility is all built out now, though some units are getting some finishing touches, and we can see why it is so popular with out-of-towners.
On the way home, I was beginning to realize while this time of life is referred to as the Golden Years. My day was certainly golden.
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