An Uncentered Sun

So many shades of gray

Our trip to California was to begin on Friday. It was all planned. We were even taking our kitty cat Bonsai with us. It was to be open-ended journey. We were going to stay at Roger's family beach house as long as we wanted-- three weeks, four weeks. I have to admit I was ambivalent. I don't really like to travel, but I liked the idea of being in California. Blue skies, sunshine, warmer temps, the beach. What's not to like? Well, there's always this: As many people live in the bay area as live in the entire state of Washington. Or this: There's so much traffic there that it's pretty much gridlock all of the time. But I digress.

We had plans. Big plans. We were going to go to Elkhorn Slough to watch birds. We were going to toss roses in the bay on my father's birthday, where we had scattered his ashes in 1997. We did that every year while we were still living in California. We were going to the cemetery to say hello out loud to Kent. We were going to see friends and family, people we love. Big plans.

But plans change. Sometimes it's hard to explain, but suffice to say, families have mysteries, miseries, and histories. So, we're staying home with our crazy gray skies. There should be as many words for gray in the northwest as there are for snow in Alaska. There should be as many words for family, as well.

I know we can't be alone in our weird family holiday blow-up. Can we?

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On the brighter beautiful side of life, if you've got a photo of that depicts the beauty of our good planet, please consider sending it to divajood of Journeys with Jood. Her email is jkblue at cox dot net. If you haven't already gone over to see what great photos she's posted these past two Saturdays, go take a look. You'll be glad you did!