A doctor told me recently that I had reached “that age”. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve certainly noticed the grey in my beard and the receding hair-line. But I mean, for 47 I think I’m pretty awesome. I don’t think of myself as “that age”, what does it mean? There’s a magical age where we start to fall apart? OK, I had a bad back incident not too long ago, which is when the doctor told me I was “that age”, but I’ve hurt my back before, that doesn’t make me “that age”. I work all day long in my salon, behind the chair, and I rarely take breaks. I’m not “that age”, and I don’t think I will be for some time. And my obsession with the idea of grandchildren is not an age thing.
I really do seem to be a little preoccupied with the idea lately. It’s not that I think my son and his new FIANCE´ Jennette are at that stage. Yes I said FIANCE´, and I want to give a shout out to them right now! Congratulations William and Jennette!
Aren’t they adorable? But no, seriously, it’s not about them. It’s just that I was always worried that I wouldn’t want grandkids, and then something clicked a few years back, and now I think I do.
I was always the disciplinarian in our household. Two fathers, a mother, and a step-father, and I get to be “the bad one”. But grandkids are different. I get to spoil the hell out of them. And yes, you bet your ass I intend to. I don’t care what kind of condition they’re in when I return them, as long as they have the biggest smile on their face the next they see me. They’re not my responsibility to fix. I get to love them unconditionally, and spoil them rotten.
Honestly though, I have no idea if William and Jennette even want kids. And it’s not my business, and I would never ever expect somebody to make a decision they didn’t want. It’s not really about them anyway. It’s just that I think that was the real sign that I HAVE reached “that age”. It was the final link that finally made me accept the truth; I am “that age”, and suddenly I’m OK with it. As a matter of fact, I think “that age” suits me quite well. Another great part of being “that age” is celebrating my sons engagement the end of last year.
Pete and I had decided to visit William and Jennette in December to see the show William is working on at the moment. He’s running the lights for Teatro Zinzani
We rented a motor home in Newark because they had a size we wanted to try. It’s not much larger than a full size pickup truck, so we figured it would be easier to navigate around LA, and we were right. It was a nice size. We didn’t feel too crowded with the dogs (they were inside as much as we were, so that’s important).
It had a decent bathroom, the bed was a good size, and the refrigerator nice. We liked it well enough, but, well, we just needed a little more space. The only real problem we encountered was the heat, or more pointedly the lack of. And for some reason Southern California decided to plunge into the ice age while we were there. Who expects to take long-sleeved shirts, jackets, and rain gear for a trip to Southern California? No heat was a problem, luckily Cruise America bought us a space heater. Can’t fault them for customer service, I’ve wanted one for our master bathroom for years, so there’s that. For some strange reason I had hives every night, very weird, but after I got some Benadryl it was all good.
Pete and I have a blast motor-homing (we don’t really camp, I don’t like dirt in my bed, and we both like having a real bed and refrigerator). We have nice meals, Pete almost always makes Chicken and Dumplings during the trip. We play cards, and just enjoy being disconnected (to a certain point). We’ve taken trips to Oregon in a camper with just a bed, icebox, and camp stove, to Montana in a rather unfashionably shabby second-hand motor home; it smelled like bacon…in a bad way, Yosemite with three feet of snow in our favorite camper, and so many miscellaneous trips to various family gatherings I’ve lost count, but Pete and I think this may have been one of our top three, and luckily our best with Buddha.
On this trip we visited the coast and whale watched,
let the dogs go wild on Morro Rock Beach,
watched Elephant Seals sleep, fight, and fight off unwanted advances,
visited Hearst Castle, visited Pete’s sister Judy, her boyfriend Ron, and our wonderful nephew Ben and his husband Tim, had an absolutely perfect lunch at The Boathouse at Hendry’s Beach after walking the beach with the dogs, hung out at Heisler Beach
and had nachos, guacamole, and margaritas at La Brisas,
went to see the Hobbit at Downtown Disney (I loved it, and even at three hours, I think I want to see it again in 3D), and had the absolute best time hanging out with William and Jennette at Disneyland and having dinner at the brand new Carthay Restaurant in California Adventure to celebrate their engagement!
Teatro Zinzanni is hoping to move back to San Francisco sometime in the next year, and it was so amazingly fantastic that we will be seeing it there again. I think it will be even more fabulous with a San Francisco audience, though it will be sad to not see William in the booth. The food was really good, and the show was filled with the perfect balance of gee-wiz, humor, and kick-ass amazing vocals, so that even at three plus hours, it never felt long. The food was served during intermission, which gave time for bathroom breaks, stretching, dining, and browsing the circus store. There was even a seventh-inning stretch, in the form of a slow dance (somewhat mandatory it seemed), I think it’s the first time Pete and I have danced in front of straight people. Not that we dance that much anyway. Somehow it felt safe, and even though I am not really a social person, the other guests at our table were fabulous as well! We sat next to Shante´ (a white Orange County girl believe it or not), Brian (her asian husband), Byron (not much personality, all I know is good-looking white dude), and his wife what’s-her-name (we just wanted her to shut the f up about the silk screening business so there was no way I was going to remember her name).
We took two leisurely days to drive back up the coast. One of our stops was a beautiful little walk to Nojoqui waterfall near Solvang. Aly was in heaven of course, but what makes me the happiest about the trip in retrospect is the fact that it was our last trip with Buddha. Our little Buddhaman loved this hike. He trekked along as if he hadn’t a care in the world, and wasn’t blind in the least. It’s how I try to remember him.
By the way, can anybody tell me what the hell this is? I found it in the bathroom at a beach we stayed at near Santa Barbara called Refugio State Beach Park, and yes, this is life size…sweet dreams.
- This is a little SMALLER than life-size.
musingsbythehairslave 