Thursday, February 20, 2014

CALIFORNIA, CENTRAL COAST: December, 2009 (Part 3)

Every year since we first visited Hawaii in 2005, William and I had managed to fit in return trips to the islands. We tried out the Big Island, Maui, and Kauai again. Vacation had become a regular word in our lexicon...until 2009, when we had to change, a little. William couldn't find work for ten months and we had to cut back.

We hunkered down in our house. We ate in most nights. Restaurant meals were a treat. I didn't buy new clothes, which wasn't a big loss since I don't like shopping and I spend most of my time in blue jeans or pajamas anyway. We watched television, played Scrabble and I wrote.

William went to a few Dodger games and I went to the movies. Some days we worried that it would be always thus and how could we possibly maintain? The economic picture worldwide continued in a bleak fashion. At school, the Shakespeare Club children exhibited their own signs of stress by lashing out, or showing sadness and depression. At home, their parents and caretakers were juggling the possibilities of homes and jobs lost.

Steering these kids into a comedy lightened the emotional load somewhat but I worried about them as much as I considered the future for us at home.

Even then we realized we were among the lucky few with food on the table and a roof overhead. As autumn approached and winter set in we decided to find an alternative to Hawaii.

Let's explore our own state, I suggested.

Where?

I don't know...maybe up the coast. Have you ever been in a redwood forest or to Carmel or San Simeon, for example?

Maybe when I was a kid...I don't remember.

People come from Germany to see our coastline. Let's go.

No comments:

Post a Comment