Everyday is so different.  When you walk into someones life, their life must go on.  So today I lived in the shadow of my friend.  When we say we are busy what does that mean to each individual?  My busy is different than the next persons busy and the next person’s busy is different than the next and so on…It was a busy, lovely shadow to live in because I was not the one that had to do all planning and work and schedule or deal with the traffic and rushing not to be late.  So I just sat in the back seat during California rush hour traffic as Linda was busy maneuvering in and out between cars and constantly being certain that the exit she was taking was the right one.  We left the house at 6:50 a.m. and arrived SAFELY (whew!) at 7:30 a.m. to the school where she drove her granddaughter so she could attend a class many miles away.

Today is Linda’s birthday and her driver’s licence is now expired.  So…we drove down to San Clemente (where the crowds would be smaller) to go to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles so she could renew her expired licence.  We stood in a long, long line for quite awhile (and that was before we got into the building) and by the time we got into the building, where the line was about three times as long as the line outside, it was time to leave so we could pick up granddaughter  because her class would be over by the time we arrived back to the school.  So no licence renewal today.  Picked up granddaughter and then made a potty stop at McDonalds and drove to another school for another class.  We drove around looking at multi-million dollar houses until time to pick up granddaughter at school number 2.  It doesn’t take much to make a house be a million dollar house in this area.  A normal three bedroom ranch in a nice neighborhood, probably 1800 to 2000 square feet will sell for about $500,000 plus.  It is crazy!

Back to the busy day.  Granddaughter was picked up after the second class and then we were off to do some birthday shopping for the birthday girl.  The item she was looking for was not there so we left and drove back toward home to meet Linda’s daughter, (mother of the granddaughter) for lunch.  Had a delicious Mexican lunch and left.  I was dropped off at home because I needed to go and pick up another friend so we could continue to have a busy day.

This friend is a woman I first met almost 40 years ago.  As I briefly mentioned in a previous blog post, our daughter Rebecca is adopted. This friend I speak of now is our daughter’s birth mother’s mother.  My husband I first met her when we were interviewed by her daughter as possible parents for her unborn child.  We found out later that no other couples were interviewed because once they (Carole and her mother) met us it was decided that we would be offered the position as parents to Carole’s unborn child.  Well, to fast forward 30 years later we located both Carole and her mom, Betts.  Through an amazing work of God our lives were reconnected.  The entire story is awesome so if any of you who read this blog is interested in knowing more just let me know and I’ll write up the whole story.  Well since we found Rebecca’s birth family, her maternal grandmother has come to our home every year in the summer to visit us for a short while.  Needless to say we have become good friends.  Betts is an amazing woman!  She has given me much encouragement and inspiration in many areas of my life, one being the writing of my memoirs and the other, regaining my health so that I could be healthy and vital going into my  later season of my life.  She is true inspiration not only me, but to many others whose lives she’s touched.  Betts is a published author and has accomplished many awards in her life for her outstanding works.  She received the most prestigious award from China that is given to a non- citizen.   I read a quote once that went something like this: “To inspire someone actually means to blow new breath of life into them”.  That is what she did for me.

Well, I picked up Betts and we had a wonderful afternoon together.  First we got lost in a construction zone and turned around and went the wrong way on a street that only went the other way.  But we wove ourselves out of that mess and ended up where I intended we should go.  We visited the first home my husband and I purchased 6 months after we married.  Next we drove by the next house we bought 3 years later.  The first house we purchase was $33,000.  Now it would sell in the ballpark of about $600 to $700 thousand dollars.  Yes, you read that right.

The second house sits on a high hill that overlooks the Anaheim valley area.  When I say “overlooks” I mean it only overlooks the valley when you can see through the smog.”  It was sunshine and hazy today.  I could actually see the Anaheim hills a few miles away.  While at the last house I introduced myself, explaining that we were previous owners of the house.  We were invited into the back yard so we could see some footprints we made of our daughters feet in 1977 when my husband poured a concrete piece covering a drainage area in the back yard.  There they were, little footprints and the date still clearly marking the slab.  I’ll post a photo.

After leaving the Yorba Linda Hills we drove to Anytime Fitness where my friend works out.  She was able to sponsor me for a guest past.  When they heard the  story of my trip and my 80 pound weight loss they offered me a pass for the days I would be in town.  I thank you Anytime Fitness for your generous gift to me.  And what a gym!  Never was I so impressed.  It is in a large mall.  You enter on the main level and then go downstairs into a massive group of rooms filled with up to date exercise equipment of all varieties.  After having the rapid heart episode in the mile high cities of Denver and Albuquerque and not being able to exert myself, this workup was my first true equipment work out in a couple of weeks.  It felt good and I pushed hard. Hope to be able to attend each day I am here.

I took Betts home and then came back to my current place of residence and  freshened up and changed clothes so I could attend a family birthday party for Linda.  Pizza and salad.  Very delicious salad.  I took a bite of pizza but was too full to eat more.  Now the party is over and I am tired after that one and a half hour workout without a hydro-massage afterwards.  Bed beckons.  There is always so much more I would like to write but must turn in as I want to get up very early tomorrow to work out, come back to the house and leave by 9:00 a.m.  I’ll be off to see some more very important people in my life.  Tell you more tomorrow evening if the Good Lord wills.

Goodnight.

p.s.  Posting a photo of a quilt that Carole made for her mother.  All the photos on the quilt are of Betts and family throughout her life.  I even took a couple of them when they came to see me in Wisconsin.