11:18pm, pacific standard time, hotel in Palm Desert, California, USA, Tuesday night, December 28, 2022. Mom made it safely to Wyoming without my accompanying her. The accomplishment was a team effort; my daughter’s mom drove her to the airport, my daughter and her friend got her through check in and finally, a family acquaintance picked her up in Salt Lake City for the drive back to Wyoming. I am glad she made it and, to be honest, happy I didn’t have to go. This weekend gave me a chance to relax and change perspective regarding work. Now I feel less stressed. If I had missed work yesterday I would have fallen back into the same energy as before. I needed a change. Fortunately there are only three more work days until 2023. Time to make the best of them.
Author: mikemeyer949
A long week ahead
6:27pm, pacific standard time, hotel in Palm Desert, California, USA, Monday night, December, 26, 2022. Came to Palm Desert instead of staying in Aliso Viejo tonight. Originally the plan was to take Tuesday off, fly to Salt Lake City with mom, turn around, fly back, then drive to Palm Desert Wednesday afternoon. However, the clinical manager here in Palm Desert had a family emergency so, she is not available to open the office tomorrow. I altered my vacation plans to be here as needed. Unfortunately, that meant traveling on an extremely busy afternoon. A drive that normally takes 2 hours took closer to four. I am tired and getting ready for bed. It feels like this is going to be a long week.
Christmas 2022
9:33pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Aliso Viejo, California, USA, Sunday night, December 25, 2022. My daughter and I walked to the park this afternoon and kicked the soccer ball around. It was nice to get out, just the two of us. and do something athletic. Especially after a long day of eating too much food. All in all, it was a good holiday; we woke up early, ate breakfast and opened presents. After we all took afternoon naps and played soccer, we drove around listening to music. At six we ate dinner then went to a movie together. Now we are back home and in for the night. Time to put another Christmas to bed and get ready for the upcoming week.
8:19pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Aliso Viejo, California, USA, Saturday night, December 24, 2022, Christmas Eve. Found a good walk through the Aliso Viejo neighborhood this morning. The trick is to turn left at the bottom of the hill instead of right. This route winds past the community park toward the middle school. At the end there is a short turn about and a small housing community. We (the dog and I) walked along the street and took the final incline to the parkway. After two left turns it was down hill back to the complex entrance. The whole walk took an hour, which is about the right distance. Afterwards, I did some early morning Christmas shopping, picked up mom for a family gathering in Valencia then came back to Aliso for dinner. Now I am going to go to bed early and rest for the Christmas celebration tomorrow.
Much needed
8:02 pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Aliso Viejo, California, USA, Friday night, December 23, 2022. Made it to Orange County early this afternoon. After dropping mom off at the hotel in Lake Forest, I picked my daughter up to do some Christmas shopping. Now we are watching YouTube and eating pizza. I am happy to be away from work for the next couple of days. Time to relax and enjoy much needed time off.
Ready for the week to be done
7:17pm, pacific standard time, hotel in Palm Desert, California, USA, Thursday night, December 22, 2022. I had to provide a counseling form to an employee today. Such matter are never easy, not for me, nor the employee involved. Unfortunately, the situation escalated to needing a second, more intense, conversation in the afternoon. Which will now be followed by a final discussion tomorrow. At this point, all my energy is drained. I am ready for the week to be done and to move on to our holiday celebration. Tomorrow afternoon mom and I return to Orange County. Hopefully the trip goes well and we can get some last minute shopping in before enjoying time as a family.
Wednesday, day 3 in Palm Desert, California
6:17pm, pacific standard time, hotel in Palm Desert, California, USA, Wednesday evening, December 21, 2022. We are still in Palm Desert for a couple more days. I have been going to the office and working. Mom mostly hangs out in the room and goes down to the lobby for breakfast. Though reportedly, she went for a short walk today. My daughter’s mom texted this morning; she was diagnosed with pneumonia last night, which explains the shortness of breath. She is feeling a little better but, needs to take it easy the next couple of days. My daughter feels better as well. She has a cough and tires easily but otherwise is doing alright. Of course, it was reported she plays online until 4am with friends in Australia so, it probably isn’t illness sapping her energy. I look forward to Christmas. We are going to drive up to Valencia on Saturday and spend time with family before officially celebrating the holiday in Orange County.
Night one: sharing a room with mom
7:22am, pacific standard time, hotel lobby in Palm Desert, California, USA, Tuesday morning, December 20, 2022. My mom and I made it through the first night sharing a hotel room with only a king bed. The couch pulled out for a surprisingly comfortable hide-a-bed and the desk has rollers for an impromptu partisan. This morning I woke up early to exercise then stayed in the lobby drinking coffee and watching sports. At 7am I went back up to shower, get dressed and reassemble the couch. Mom is still asleep and I am downstairs for another cup of coffee before heading to the office. It isn’t perfect but, we are making the best of the situation.
Monday before Christmas
6:34pm, pacific standard time, hotel in Palm Desert, California, USA, Monday night, December 19, 2022. The family is still a little under the weather today. I stopped by this morning to walk the dog and drop off tea before driving to Palm Desert. My daughter and her friend were asleep but, her mom was in the living room watching television. She was thankful I was able to help before departing for the week. I got out of Orange County at noon and arrived at 2:30pm. My mom is with me this trip. I thought I booked a suite with a separate bedroom but there isn’t much privacy. We are going to share the room to save money but we might have to rebook. I am getting too old to sleep on the pullout couch in a hotel room and neither of us are keen on sharing a sleeping space.
Sunday in Orange County, California
6:39pm, pacific standard time, hotel in Lake Forest, California, USA, Sunday evening, December 18, 2022. I spent the whole day waiting for inspiration to write this post. Nothing overly amazing happened but, it was a nice day nonetheless. Went to breakfast with my mom, took a walk in Dana Point and ran to some stores. Later, we drove around for a while before taking dinner to the family in Aliso Viejo. Now we are back at the hotel and calling it a night. We will leave for Palm Desert tomorrow morning and stay there until next weekend.
