Thirteen years ago I graduated from high school and my youngest sister started Kindergarten that next fall. Since I had college classes in the morning at Weber, and didn't work until the evenings, I would walk to the top of our street to pick her up from the bus stop. We'd then walk down the street while she showed me what she had learned that day. I wasn't able to afford the spring semester of my first year in college and I took advantage of opportunity, and would help my mom out by waking Becky up and watching her favorite TV shows and help her get ready for school. We'd watch "Bear in the Big Blue House" (Shadow! Shadow, Shadow Shad-ow!) and "Blues Clues". She would then fall asleep on the bean bags in the basement, and once I was home from work, she'd wake up and beg me to let her sleep in my room. I gave in every time and would drag the bean bag in my room and carry her in to sleep on it. I cherished every moment with her. Being 12 years her senior, I knew I would be leaving home long before she grew up.
Today we started the long promised 'senior trip'. I told Becky I would go on a senior trip with her if she found herself alone with no one to go. I got lucky (along with Suzy), and found myself flying from Vancouver to Salt Lake, picking up a rental and then spending fourteen hours driving from Salt Lake to Anaheim to go to Disneyland. Although it's been a long day (with bouts of separation anxiety from Bryan getting to me), it's been a fun adventure. Our compact rental car came in the form of a Mazda Crossover. All the comfort we could want, dual zone controls, tinted windows, and roominess. We stopped in Cedar City for some snacks, and then in St. George for ice cream. The brakes on the crossover work awesome; a last minute Moneypenny telling us to turn right gave the perfect opportunity to double check we could stop in 60 feet. About 5 miles outside of Vegas, the Cali traffic started, and the drive became...more involved. We stopped at Edwards, the AFB my family last lived at. I haven't seen it since we moved away in 1992, and a lot has changed. The housing where we lived no longer exists, and two of the schools I went to are no longer used as schools. The BX has been rebuilt, and the old library building has been torn down. We also stopped in Rosamond and saw the small rental we lived in; it brought back a lot of memories. Happy memories of riding bikes in the desert, swimming in pools filled with a garden hose, sleepovers every weekend and walks to the Four Seasons for Haagen Daaz ice cream bars and toys. The last drive into LA was long; we hit rush hour at its peak. Three hours later we finally went the last 25 miles and arrived at our hotel, directly across from Disneyland. Once in our room I changed into PJs in a matter of seconds ready to hit the sack. Zzzzzz...
