It was great waking up at the hotel in California. I knew we were going to meet new friends that day, but we had nowhere to be, and no time to get there (or so I thought). After taking a shower and throwing on comfy shorts and a t-shirt, Tim said, "I did tell you we're going to church with Judith and Charlie, right?" I got quiet..."Really?! You made plans like that without telling me until it's almost time to leave? What kind of church is it? How far is it? What if we're dressed too casual?" It's very difficult to have information thrown at you last-minute when you've got an OCD personality. I need time to hear it, think it through, get used to the idea, consider a plan B (I don't know why, but I always have to have a Plan B in case things don't go as planned, to reduce stress), and then finally accept the concept. Tim and I looked up the church website and got the info I needed to know I would be going to a relaxed, contemporary service at a church with similar beliefs.
We arrived at Mount of Olives church early; we both are always early for everything. It gave us time to get acclimated before having to go inside. It was a beautiful, sunny, cool morning with a nice breeze. We found the coffee shop and ordered Tim's coffee, then went to sit at an outdoor table to wait for our friends.
I should explain why we were meeting "new friends". Facebook has been a great tool to reconnect with old friends, find relatives and friends you've lost touch with, and to meet new friends. Tim's father was an Arizona Ranger (sheriff's department volunteer backup organization). His "company", like an army company, used to compete in training skills events. They used to get beat by this young Captain in the Phoenix area. The Captain used to date a young woman years ago. That young woman's Mom is Judith. Got that so far? Okay, so Tim worked pretty closely with his father when we lived in the mountains for two years, and he got to know the Captain on Facebook. That captain, although not seeing the young woman anymore, he kept in touch on Facebook with her Mom, Judith. Tim would see Judith had a very similar mindset, had the same foundation for her character, similar beliefs, and stood for many of the same things, so he sent Judith a friend request and she accepted. Being the wonderful woman that she is, she did the right thing, and sent me a friend request also, even though I didn't have her daughter's friend on my friend list. I accepted based on Tim's recommendation. We got to know her better and hear about her husband Charlie that she obviously adored. We spent 3 or more years keeping in touch on Facebook, and when she heard our vacation would take us to her area, she was more than happy to have us meet, visit, and show us around. Meeting first at church seemed like a great start.
Back to church...when Judith and Charlie (who introduced himself as "Chuck", and so will be called that from here forward) arrived, we were greeted with smiles, handshakes, and her hug. Very genuine, down-to-earth people who live life transparently. I love that. No false images, no trying to act differently than who they are, just a "here I am, as is" attitude. That's exactly the way I try to live my life too. I knew I'd just met some great people. Within just a few minutes, you would've thought we'd known each other for 20 years! Everything was easy and comfortable between the 4 of us. We were introduced as their "friends we just met". Then Judith would quickly explain our meeting on Facebook and now in person. The service was wonderful. The music was similar to what we're used to hearing, the pastor told a great storAfy and tied it to being courageous, basing it all on God being big enough to handle our circumstances, no matter how big they may seem to us at the time. I really enjoyed it. Afterwards, they brought us to the welcome table and we were given free insulated coffee cups with the church's logo on it and a free latte fill up.
After church, it was getting close to lunch time so they took us to El Torito Grill at Newport Harbor. The restaurant was among lots of little ocean side shops with typical beachy things to sell. We had a great window seat to view all the boats in the marina, people paddle boarding, and kayaking. The food was pretty good, but the conversation was better. We talked about different areas along the coast, travel, old cars, and where our hosts would be taking us next.
When lunch was finished, we traveled to two different beach areas where Judith and Charlie like to go. The first was Dana Point. Rocky coastline, beautiful views, and the Dana Point Rock Lady (mountain profile looks like a woman's face) made for a beautiful spot to see. We also went to another spot, not sure exactly which beach it was, but it was nearby. It's a place Judith likes to walk. I think it's Laguna Beach, but not sure. There's a beautiful walkway near the parking lot, overlooking mansions on the water's edge of a sandy beach, with a hillside of flowers and cacti in-between. There's a ton of stairs that take you down to the water, but we decided that late in the day, it was okay to view it from where we were. We didn't want to tire out our wonderful hosts, and we could tell they were winding down. They invited us back to their lovely home afterwards so we could get changed. Tim and I had plans to hit the water and sand late afternoon for some alone time.
We found a great spot off a side street. Parking on a Sunday afternoon was really hard to find, but we found a metered spot at the top of a staircase leading down to the water between some cool beach homes. We spent a few hours just enjoying the sights, smells, and sounds of the beach once again. We watched surfers and paddle boarders. I guess I always heard how crowded California beaches were because of the high population, but we were pleasantly surprised that night (and for our whole trip) and how few people there really were. Not sure if it's because people see the ocean every day so it's not a big deal to them anymore, or if we just happened to have great timing to avoid the peak of the crowds. Either way, it made for a very relaxing afternoon. When it came time for dinner, I don't remember what we did that night. The previous night we'd picked up something at the grocery store we could eat without having to cook, but that night, I just don't remember what we ate. Maybe we were still full from lunch and didn't eat?
It was a great day, we made wonderful new friends, and had a fantastic time winding down at the beach. I went to bed rested, relaxed, yet full of anticipation because tomorrow...we were going on our first cruise together!!!
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