California: Yesterday (Sunday) was Day 1

Mid-evening local time, after almost six hours of flying and a two hour layover, Geoff, Matthew, and I arrived in Los Angeles.  We walked out of the airport and into the warm, fresh and sweet-smelling air - fragrant with flowers, sea salt, and some other unidentified essence.  Having left our winter gear at home, we found ourselves nonetheless too warm in long pants, socks, and closed-toe shoes.  Something akin to giddiness came over me and I couldn't help but imagine that breathing this air must be something like it was for the Israelites collecting the first bits of mana after a near-starvation experience. 


After standing in various lines to collect our rental car and struggling momentarily to operationalize our new GPS, we typed our hotel address into that little miracle of modern technology and set off for our hotel with a confidence that has no business being inspired in so new a driver to the area.

Though it was late evening according to our internal clocks by the time we’d reached our hotel, and though Matthew had eaten three large (for him) meals that day along with virtually every snack I’d packed into our carry-on luggage (mandarin oranges, pears, grapes, granola bar pieces, pudding, cranberry/almond thins, fruit leather thingies, etc), he adamantly professed starvation as we arrived in our room, and so we ended up ordering up some mac ‘n cheese...which he duly devoured.  Of note, my usually sparse eater (who frequently expresses that simply “eats to live”) has, since sometime Saturday, eaten far more voraciously than normal...likely predicated by his stomach flu a week ago, after which he had little appetite for several days.  After satisfying his hunger, Matthew fell almost instantly asleep, followed by Geoff a short time later.  I found myself  awake in bed for another hour or so, sometimes reading, and at other times just lying there, pondering the day...life.  I often dread the late-night hours, knowing that, as an insomniac, I will most likely be awake and alone for a while (or for hours) - if not reading, then musing about whatever possesses my mind on that particular nightfall. Fortunately, last night’s elongated consciousness didn’t last overly long, and I was able to get a good night’s sleep despite the hour.