What Happened to Summer-06?

Star-Log: Planet Irvine, October 20, 2006

I simply don’t know what happened to the summer of -06, is seems just yesterday when I was writing about Chelsea’s horse, and now it is suddenly almost the end of October!!?? How in the world did this happen? I can’t keep up anymore, it seems that the weeks just run in to each other; I turn around and another month has gone by, in a blur of kids, dogs, school, work, horses and appointments. I scream at the earth “Slow Down, don’t Spin so Fast!!!”, but my lament is in vain. Its dark again, I get up around 5:00, 5:30 AM, and take the dog for a long walk, in the pitch black. I might as well be walking in the middle of the night, nothing but moonlight and starlight. Sidney (our wonderful Border collie) doesn’t mind, problem is she sees rabbits and runs after them, almost tearing my arm off. I can’t see a thing, blind as a bat in my old age!!!! Halloween decorations are everywhere (including our house of course), it seems that I just went around the neighborhood with the kids last week; it can’t possibly be a whole year ago! Oh well, enough belly-aching, I can’t stop the inexorable march of time, might as well enjoy the ride. Our summer was wonderful, we did a whole bunch of things (the Beach, cruising PCH, the Pools, Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Sea World and Knott’s Berry Farm to mention a few), and throw in a few gigs with the band and life is complete. Work has also been incredibly busy, that’s probably why time seems to slip by with such speed. Just when I think I have everything under control, we change direction and head back into the unknown. However, there is no boredom at AcuFocus, which is probably a very good thing!! I try to get on my bike a few days every week, ride for an hour or so, feels great and the craziness of the day melts away. We are blessed with some great bike-trails, I can ride from my house down to the beach in about 45 minutes, a great ride, and there again is my beloved Pacific Ocean. It’s crazy, I have been here now for almost 25 years (what the heck happened to that chunk of time?), but I never get tired of the Beach. We take the kids to Big Corona, a great piece of beach for the kids (although the waves can get wild), I usually sit close to the surf so I can keep an eye on them, it typically takes a few uncontrollable tumbles in the waves before they start to respect the awesome power of the water, but they learn!!!! I’m not kidding when I say that I haven’t had a relaxing day at the beach for the last 18 years (since Chelsea was born), since I’m always looking out for kids, but it sure beats working for a living, or sitting at home in front of the tube!!!! Or we go down to Crystal Cove in the evenings when parking is free (thanks to Arnold, I’m not gonna spend $10.00 just to park at a state beach), we bring some food, and then walk the beach looking for shells and crabs, just enjoying the scenery. On Fridays and Saturdays, we go driving down Pacific Coast Highway; Newport Beach (they just opened a new Ferrari dealership in town, some drool coming down my cheek when I see all the cars I will never buy, but a man’s gotta dream!), Corona Del Mar, Laguna Beach and them sometimes down to South Laguna, I never get tired of the “American Riviera”. As we drive with the kids to McDonalds for an ice cream, we drive by the quaint little restaurants in Laguna and sigh “that will be us someday, just the two of us at some cute Italian restaurant having a romantic dinner with real placemats without accompanying crayons”, but it will probably be another 10 years. Oh well, in the meantime I will enjoy the kids as much as I can, so what if we eat hamburgers and fries, or cheap Mexican food at Taco Bell, as long as the kids are happy, I’m happy! Life continues to be just excellent in SoCal, I just went out in the sun for a few minutes, and it feels as wonderful as ever. So, as the Long Beach Dub All Stars would say:“I've only count the sunny hours, brightest hours of dayI never count the gloomy hours, I let them slip awayAnd I realize I'm away”Until next time, have a great life, be good to each other and keep each other warm!!!Love, PL