Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
We did!!! The bathroom scale has been banned from showing itself for several weeks!
Two weeks ago, we got a call from Becky (Mary’s youngest daughter), who invited us to a post-Thanksgiving lunch with her and her brother (including their families). We thought this was wonderful!!
We were up early and got ready to go to the “Irvine Spectrum,” which is a large outdoor shopping mall.
What we forgot was that it was “Blck Friday” and the place was jammed. There were police and security everywhere, and signs saying “Parking Lot Full.” We drove around for twenty minutes and decided to go to the parking garage and drive to the third floor, where there were a few potential openings.
Out of the car, we were ready for a short walk to the restaurant, Javier’s. Did I say short walk?? We should have brought water, a box of MREs, a small tent, and an elephant gun!
The photo was taken from space.
We couldn’t quite read the space map, so we went to a kiosk and downloaded directions to our phones. We are off with the first stop being the elevators. So we can adjust our lungs to the altitude difference, we stopped at the second floor and finally at the first floor.
We followed the red brick road and slithered oodles of people standing in lines to go into stores.
We followed the directions.
About 1/3rd of the way there, we ran into the Christmas Tree. The base of the tree looked to us like a good place to set up camp for the day and continue our journey tomorrow. However, the invite said noon on Friday, so we trekked on past the tree and into the narrow corridors, hopefully leading to Javier’s.
Oh my! It looked small from the satellite photo.
About four hours later, I startled Mary by yelling, “Javier’s Ho!” in my deep sailor voice. Yes, we arrived! Having not eaten for days, I was ready to say hello and get down to the gastronomic delights promised in the menu.
The kids were already there. They called the police and un-reported us as missing.
We got down to serious conversations immediately (immediately after getting our first round of drinks)!
We got to Javier’s about ten minutes late. Dan and Becky were entertaining the kids.
We had a great time visiting and catching up. I tried to get a photo of the boys (Adam and Ethan), but alas, they were both being “tickle bugs” and were busy eliciting uproarious laughter from the adults.
David and Kate were ready for some hours d’oeuvers.
Since it was the season, I polished off another three margaritas. We jabbered for quite a while before heading to the door.
Paul, Ethan, Mary, Becky, Kate, Adam, David, and Dan.
When the police showed up, we told them, “We Were Framed!”
On the way home, O was fading fast, so a nice Security person came and helped Mary get me seated to rest. They then called for a car, and the driver took us there, thus saving us days, perhaps weeks, of foot travel. Being smart, on the way to Javier’s, I dropped popcorn so we could find our way back. Alas, the popcorn was gone thanks to the Santa Ana winds.
To end the visit, I attempted to open the door for Mary and missed a step, going down face-first on the concrete with a clatter like a reindeer on the roof. People from neighboring cars rushed to my aid, thinking I was “out of it – drunk”. No such luck, I am still not totally stable on my feet since the operation.
After a few minutes of total humiliation and studying the patterns in the concrete, we managed to get me into the car.
I drove home without incident, and sure, I tripped when reaching for the door handle.
Before going to bed, we went to TCM and decided to watch Goldie Hawn in “Swingshift”. Summary: During the Second World War, a navy wife helps the war effort by taking a job in the local aircraft factory, where she meets a man declared unfit for military service who sweeps her off her feet. When her husband returns on furlough, things become very complicated.
We crashed around 10:30 pm, and tomorrow is another day!
