Adventure

This is just to say that the vacation is going better than I ever could have hoped.

Elsie was an angel on the flight to LA, and was exceedingly flexible and good-natured on our exhausted daytrip to Santa Monica.  Sitting on the beach and riding the carousel sure beats spending 13 hours at LAX.  She fell sound asleep in my arms, packed like a little sardine on an overcrowded city bus, and did not wake for anything: not leaving the bus, not security (BIG thanks to TSA for letting us carry her through!), not being dumped clumsily onto those leather waiting chairs in the terminal, and not being carefully buckled, still sleeping, across her seat on the plane.  She slept six hours of the flight and most of the car ride on the other end.  I had worried a great deal about that twisting, hilly, winding car ride, and with good reason.  She woke 3 km from our destination, and promptly fulfilled my worry by throwing up all over herself.  Not good, but it could have been so much worse.  We were minutes from our destination, so things were soon set right.

Miraculously, Elsie has expressed none of the expected symptoms of her jetlag.  None.  She slept all the way through that first night, and woke up cheerful.

She loves her grandparents and her aunt and uncle, and they love her.  It has been particularly sweet to see her meet her 94-year-old Great Gran (or, as Elsie calls her, "Gran Gran")  She bounces between the beach and the big box of Hub's old duplo that Grandma so thoughtfully pulled out of storage for her.  And because Elsie has been having such a smooth and lovely time of it, so have I.

It might sound pathetic to those non-parents out there, but I think most parents will understand this sentiment. When the kid is content, when she is entertaining herself and enjoying the company of extended family, I get to heave a sigh of relief and let go of that silly sense that I am responsible for Elsie's happiness.

Our weather is unseasonably warm and sunny.  The days are long.  The beaches are beautiful.  And every time I sit down in a cafe and hear Christmas music, I feel as though I'm in a parallel universe.  More than travelling to the other side of the globe, I feel that I have travelled to the other end of the year, to high summer.

It's strange, but it's not half bad!