On Thursday, January 2nd, I flew out of Tampa heading to Monterey, California, to attend my grandson (Kristofer)’s wedding on Saturday, January 4th.

The trip was uneventful. I was exhausted and wished I had packed differently (too much in my carry-on computer case), but I made it safely and near the scheduled arrival time. It was so nice to see my daughter (and her good friend, Dotty) at the airport.

We attended the rehearsal dinner Friday night.

Saturday there were a few scheduling glitches for photos, but the wedding was lovely. The bride looked radiant, the groom handsome (of course my opinion may be slightly affected by being his grandmother). The reception was very, very nice. Food excellent. Fun crowd. Details perfectly executed.

Sunday I went to church with my daughter and then did some shopping with her.

Yesterday (Monday) we spent a good deal of the day at the Monterey Aquarium. I will add some photos later, but suffice it to say the experience was lovely! The displays of jelly fish were especially awesome. (My son-in-law, who works at the aquarium, was able to get us back-stage passes which made it even more interesting. A long tiring day, but very enjoyable!

Today (Tuesday) my daughter and I are going to do some extra shopping and sightseeing together. Tomorrow I head home.

I must admit that I was concerned before coming that it would be awkward because my ex-husband and his wife were in attendance and I knew I’d have to share my daughter’s time with him. But it had been so long, we’ve been divorced for about 45 years and it had been at least 25 since I’d seen him, so it was like meeting a stranger. His wife and I hit it off, and everything went smoothly. (I was surprised to find that I really liked his wife and enjoyed their company.) Once that hurdle was dealt with, everything was fine.

I have had a hard time with my sleep patterns. It’s hard to deal with a three-hour time difference and will have a similar difficult time when I go home.

Michigan is experiencing record cold temperatures and snow. Florida had a low last night near freezing. Here in California, I’m also chilly (high will be about 60 today). It is damp and I’m the only one who feels that it’s not warm enough.