Summing It All Up

Summing It Up

Our trip is coming to a close.  It has been eventful in both good ways and bad, so this morning while in the car, we recapped:

The things we'll miss in no particular order:

The beautiful weather

Our little cottage with the horses

Some darned amazing ice cream:  Sweet Rose Ice Cream in Brentwood.  

Family

Friends

Our big green car

The ocean right down the street

Flowers

Santa Monica

Some of the really nice people we have met:  Linda and Mike in particular.  

Linda we met at a garage sale and she had great fun finding clothes for Alina.  We bought just about everything she recommended.  We have stayed in touch via email.  She was a friendly person on a day when we needed friendly.  

Mike not only pointed out free parking after we had been towed the day before, but he amused us with trying to fix his nephew up with Alina via text and Facebook.  We still laugh when we think of the funny hour we spent with him, a perfect stranger who felt very familiar.  Like family.  

Things we will not miss:

Being disappointed by some

Museums which close on odd days or strange hours...which were inevitably the days or times we chose to go 

Traffic

Spending endless amounts of time driving

Cars that don't stay in their lanes

Angry drivers

Unfriendly angry people who later get in their cars and become unfriendly angry drivers

What was accomplished?  

Actually, some good stuff was accomplished.  Alina received a few auditions and a few good meetings with some important people.  We can't ask for any more than that.  

The biggest accomplishment came as a surprise to me this morning.  Alina said that this trip was eye-opening for her.  I thought she would say that she no longer wanted to be an actress and that the disappointing moments she experienced here had worn it out of her.  But no, instead she told me that now she knows more than ever that this is what she wants to do.  

In addition to that, she plans from now on to take on the entire venture on her own.  She will find the classes she wants to take, she will be the one talking to the agents and receiving the calls to audition.  From now on, she wants to be the one in charge of her career and her destiny.

I couldn't be happier about that.  We started this endeavor when she was 13.  Now, at 16, she is old enough and mature enough to take it from here.  Jesse and I will play the supporting roles of encouraging parents and Alina gets to run her own show.

It has been a growing experience for both of us with a great outcome overall.  Can't wait to head home. I miss my hubby.

WHALE OF TOW

This is actually a picture of our rental car getting towed.  

WHALE OF TOW

"No! Wait! Stop!" I yelled.  

The meter had refused to take my quarters, and upon closer inspection it clearly stated that meter enforcement ended at 4:00.  Without any further detective work, I figured that meant that after 4:00 you could park for free.  

"Lady, read the sign," the tow truck man said pointing half way down the block.  "No parking after 4pm. We clear the road for rush hour."  

Argh.  Welcome naive wanderers.  This land of traffic waits for no dunderheaded tourists.  

"It's $230 for me to release your car.  Cash or credit. And you also got a parking ticket.  That's $170. Just so you know."

We headed home but I couldn't shake my dismay.  My husband is working extra hard to pay for this trip and I just blew $400 bucks on nothing.  I cried my feelings of stupidity and remorse into the phone.  

"It's ok honey" he said sympathetically. "Really.  It's OK."  That was nice.  I felt a little less horrible.

In fact that whopper of a moment brought to a close the less-than-eventful first half of this trip to LA.  After forking over my credit card, signing a few papers and finally heading off on our way, we had no choice but to look at the sunny side of things.

"Thank goodness we caught it just in time" my daughter said.  "What would we have done if they had hauled the car away before we got there?"  We agreed we had something to be thankful for, so we grumbled a little gratitude.

"And we had a really nice day up until that moment" I pointed out.  We had. We'd gone to the La Brea Tar Pits.  It was a pretty darn cool place.  So yea.  That was a good thing too. (Yes, I know I just said "the the tar tar pits.")

Strange, but accentuating the positive started to turn things around.

The next day, the sun was shining and we headed to the beach. For the rest of the week, whatever we did would have to be free so, the beach it was.  We pulled up to a meter, read every single sign within the block six times, and parked.

"You can park for free across the street" a friendly man said, pointing.  "People don't pay attention, but I park there every day for hours."  

Wow!  Free!  And a nice man too.  Turns out, he's from Glencoe, the town right next to ours back home in Illinois.  We chatted and laughed with him for almost an hour.  Nothing like unexpected kindness from a stranger to make your day happy.

More positive stuff later in the day when some auditions came in, a wonderfully supportive friend arranged a meeting for Alina with a casting director, and another call came in for an opportunity for Alina to be an extra on a show, though she wasn't able to accept that one.

Yes indeedy, things might be turning around as long as we keep our sunny sides up and stay clear of parking meters at rush hour.

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