X-mas Cheer and The First Goodbyes

As the engines rev up, the air hits my face and the cabin lights dim. I stare out past Chelsea looking at a working museum. The most striking exhibit being old airplane hangers, decades upon decades old, swathed in blue tin, once a symbol of an opulent future, that now only advertise to the taxiing planes on the LAX tarmac. I stare and I think back to this week visiting Oxnard, California, my hometown. 

The week began with a 3-hour drive from San Diego to The Nard. My cousin Joey, Chelsea, and I squeezed like sardines into his Mitsubishi Eclipse with two weeks worth of baggage for us, 8-months worth of luggage from Joey (recently returned from Afghanistan), and our cat, Zenith, in her crate. It was a fairly tight squeeze to say the least.

After settling Zenith in at Dad's, in her home for the next two years, we arrived at our home base at my brother Phil’s. We said our first goodbye when we left Zenith in the patient, loving care of Michael. Then we were all over town visiting friends, family, shopping, and of course celebrating the season.

A few highlights:

Monday was blast! We went to a dive bar and watched my brother’s great band, Cheetahsaurus (now available on I-Tunes and Amiestreet.com for download), play a few songs. It was a fun night and we closed the bar down (Mom even swung by to catch the show and stayed till closing time too!).

Tuesday we ate some really good Mexican food. And after enjoying both, we decided Taco De beats out Taco Inn in price and tastiness.

Wednesday we went to Home Depot and built Dad his present.

Thursday was a magical day. My brother-in-law works for the national park system and he took us out on a patrol to Channel Islands National Park, one of the only U.S. National Parks that is mostly underwater. Since it was the morning of Christmas Eve there weren’t many other boats out and he took us to “the Island”, Santa Cruz Island. The beauty overwhelmed me.

The boat we were on was a 22-foot Zodiac Hurricane—not a large vessel as you can see. We hung on for dear life (since there are no seats on this vessel) as we powered through whirly waves where east met northwest winds in a chaotic swirl of shifting currents.

As Santa Cruz Island loomed ever closer, Danny slowed the boat down, he’d seen something.  We saw it too. DOLPHINS! A pod dolphins played in the distance as we boated closer they played in our wake. They circled us and we chased them and they circled us in an age-old oceanic game.

We continued our journey and soon found ourselves inside Painted Cave, one of the largest marine caves in the U.S. which sits on the north end of the Island facing towards shore. We took some photos, then revved the Zodiac up as we made the “batman” exit. We ate some snacks onboard and started our journey home.


The return trek was even more precarious. We jumped over wave troughs as the wind ripped through our ears and the water sprayed our safety coats. The constant cadence of the fiberglass slamming into the waves sounded like gunfire. But each time we’d get air it felt as though all went quiet and calm. There was a pause amidst the chaos. Peace.

Christmas morning came and our favorite (and only) little niece woke us up bright and early. We opened gifts and said our second set of good byes. Our brother-in-law and cousin won’t be in town when we visit the Nard next time so we said more “farewell for now”s. They were some of our first and will not be the last.

This is only the beginning of a process, a transition to a different chapter in our lives. And as the plane lands in San Jose and my other brother-in-law, Stephan, drives us into Chelsea's hometown a new paragraph begins. The second leg of our holiday journey will be filled with more of the same: friends, family, goodbyes and celebrations.