Living La Vida Loca :)

My life has been a little hectic the past couple of months...you can probably tell from the lack of blog posts that I have been a bit busy!
I am so glad that Kevin (my dear husband) and I decided to take a little 'vacay' mixed in with a family wedding last week! It was an amazingly fun and relaxing time for us...and we also got to see both of our sons (and our daughter in law) at the same time! It does not happen too often, since our sons live on opposite coasts.
We started our trip with a short visit to our old stomping grounds- Mammoth Lakes, CA. I know they have been in the news lately because of their declaration of bankruptcy, but, really, Mammoth Lakes is one of the most beautiful places in the world- at least, in our eyes.
Mammoth is the place I really fell in love with Kevin. He took the time to teach me to ski back in 1978. Some of you know how difficult I can be when I'm cold, or tired, or frustrated- and learning to ski is all about being cold, and tired and frustrated. Today, I am a halfway decent skier because of Kevin and his patience, and, Mammoth.

Next, we drove to the OC to attend the wedding of our niece, Colleen, and our new nephew, Eric! It was an epic wedding reception- Tricia and Erin, the Maids of Honor, gave a fantastic and hilarious speech, and got the party started by chugging PBR...needless to say, I danced holes in my shoes. I may be a little jiggly, but I do love to dance! Oh, and sing...did I mention that I like to sing?  Alll I can say is that the girls at the wedding rocked, "Africa" by Toto. And, of course, we all did, "The Time Warp" with great enthusiasm...including my Mom, the Great Grandma of the family. I think everyone who attended the wedding sang, "Piano Man" Living On A Prayer" and several other family favorites.  We also met some very interesting 'local color' in San Clemente at 2 in the morning, waiting an hour for a taxi home (we paid attention to those PSA commercials telling us to 'drink responsibly') . Thanks, Knuckleheads Bar for the advanced lesson in dive bar-ism.

We spent an extra day in the OC visiting family, and of course, making a de riguer visit to In N Out. Trust me, it's iconic. If you ever get to eat at In N Out, try the Animal Style fries that are not on the menu.

Although it was not on the original schedule, Mammoth Lakes called us back.
We drove back and spent a few more days there, walking down memory lane, going to familiar restaurants, hiking, and fishing. Well, I watched Kevin fly fish. It was AWESOME!

We also had an opportunity to visit with one of the young people I  had the privilege to work with in Youth Ministry at San Francisco Solano Parish. Alisa is a smart and sweet young lady who has traded the rat race of the OC for the outdoor mecca of Mammoth Lakes for the past couple of years. She had lunch with us and shared a little window into her life. I am so glad I got to reconnect with her! Sometimes, you get to see some of the fruit of the work in the labor of love that you perform in serving Christ and his Church...and in Mammoth Lakes, I found a deeply spiritual, mature, sensible young lady who walks in the way of the Lord.

It was a very fun trip with a lot of laughs...I still crack up when I remember that I told Kevin we had to be on the lookout for the 'Nippies' in Nevada (Chippies in California, Nippies in Nevada). I loved meeting the 'new' priest assigned to Mammoth Lakes- Fr. Paul Beaudreau. I kept thinking, I had this nagging feeling that his name sounded familiar. I later found out that he is a columnist for a magazine I read all the time, "Today's Parish" by 23rd Publications, and that he is also a 'mover and shaker' in the life of the Church.
Kevin and I had tears rolling down our cheeks one night, because we were laughing so hard...we played a game with the ipad where we played the first opening bars of a song from the 70s when we met and the other person had to name the song...we had a lot of cocktails, a lot of wonderful meals, a lot of fun with our family, and most important, a time to relax and fall in love with each other all over again.

Back to reality....but, now, we know, we need to do this more often. Isn't that what 'retirement' is all about?