Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.

It wasn't until this past Saturday that it finally hit me that I was in a different world now. I've been sick ever since I arrived here, my awareness hazed by the lingering buzz of Nyquil. I also became engrossed in my new job. Each day, four walls deny me the sensations of Southern California. How irritating! By the time I get home and feed Amber the sun is beginning to set, and the day seems hardly different from any other day. Well, there's still the palm trees!

But this weekend, on Saturday, it hit 80 degrees for the first time and Sunday was a mirror image. I went out for a bite Saturday afternoon and then took a walk down to the beach. I was surprised to find the beach crowded. I wasn't expecting to see it so busy so soon. And as my feet hit the sand, my shirt instinctually came off. I sat near the edge of the surf and watched and listened to the Ocean and the seagulls and the kids laughing and splashing. I looked back and up to the top of the bluff at the rows of palm trees and the rows of apartments and condos lining Ocean Avenue. "Holy shit, I live here!"

I sat there feeling the warm sand in my toes for a solid half-hour, until my back started to burn.


Full Moon behind Palm Trees

My street during the day