July 18th. Trip to Cali in "Waiting for my Petrichor"

My trip to California was a lot better than any of my previous trips so that was good. I landed in LAX after an hour delay and rented a car at Enterprise. Only 14.95 a day---not bad! I drove straight to my grandma's in Laguna and arrived around 11. My parents, Kyle, and Mish were also there. We hung out for about an hour and had dinner and they were tired so went back home and I was exhausted. The next day my grandma and I spent the day in San Juan Capistrano and then headed over to San Clemente Pier. It was a gorgeous day out and I was glad to be away from the east coast humidity! I had never explored a lot of San Juan Capistrano so it was nice seeing parts I hadn't been to--including a petting zoo! We stopped and had chips and guacamole which was delicious! I have missed avocados/guacamole! Around 4 we headed to San Clemente and went shopping downtown. I bought my grandma a beautiful necklace and some matching earrings and then we headed to the pier. While enjoying a beer at Fisherman's I was scrolling through FB and noticed my cousin was recently tagged at the Pier. I texted her asking if she was there and what a surprise--she was! So we met up briefly and she was very intoxicated. I guess they had a girl's night downtown and her mom had rented a place overlooking the ocean for the entire month of July! So cool! She wanted me to go out drinking with them later on, but I didn't want to because I wanted to spend the day with my grandma. The next day was the wedding! I woke up early because I was still on Boston time and got ready. I headed down to La Verne and had Tastee's--my favorite place! Then I went to Claremont and wandered around for a bit. I met with Andrea and Tyler at the 99 cent store and then we went back to their place. It is a cute back house in La Verne and I am so happy for them to finally have their own place! We ended up going to Tyler's sisters place for a little bit because it was her birthday. Then we headed to the wedding. It was a lot of fun and I was glad to see people I haven't seen in awhile. Cristina and Justin looked SO happy! And Cristina looked beautiful, I really loved her dress! It was awkward to see how huge my ex Steve had become, but I am glad he has found a nice girl! Our original plan was to leave the Jeep there and take a taxi home since we had all been drinking a lot, but Jarred ended up coming to our rescue and picking us up and we continued with the drinking festivities at Andrea's grandparents house since they were out of town. It was a fun night and I am glad everything that happened happened. Jarred really is a great guy and I am glad we have become closer throughout the years. The next day Tyler had to go to work so Andrea and I went to my grandmas. We played board games, had a good dinner, and watched old videos. It was hard to see my relatives who are deceased especially since I have actually NEVER watched any home videos because I always refuse. I didn't realize what type of kid I was when I was little so that was kind of funny. It would also be interesting to see videos from when I was around 7-13. Hah. Boy are times different. I think of watching those videos vs the Xmas video we made a couple years back and it is sad how shitty things turned out. Oh well. Such is life. During dinner my parents and I got into an emotional conversation. I felt bad because Andrea, my aunt, and my grandma must have felt very awkward, but it was time for certain things to come out and I am glad my parents are finally breaking their denial streak. My mom actually admitted to being a pill head for ten years while I was growing up and actually acknowledged what she did and how fucked up it was. I also heard more of her side of the story and felt sympathy to how lost she really was during that time. My dad actually started crying and said "You have no idea how much I wish things could have been like they used to and I often think of how things could have been". It was like they were actually human again and not numb robots. The next day I had breakfast with my grandma and then I was off to LAX where of course my flight was delayed again. I really don't want to take American Airlines ever again. It was the worst airline I've ever flown. We were delayed 3 hours and I didn't get back to Boston until 2:30a.m! I was pissed.

Anyway, I have been having some nostalgic dreams since being back home. The first one was about hanging out with Eddie and Matt. I can understand dreaming about Eddie because of what happened at the wedding (He wasn't there and I didn't find out the reason why until Andrea told me---he didn't go because of me. How fucked up. You can't go to your friends wedding because of an ex you dated 5 years ago???) Anyway, it was a nice dream and it was one of those dreams where all the drama has been erased and everyone is friends again. Then I had a dream last night of Justin. It was tough because I felt like we were hanging out and it was how things would have been if we had stayed together. In my dream I kept saying "Yeah I have a husband, but Justin is my true love" to everyone that was asking me. I woke up and immediately texted Justin "Crazy dream last night." He said "Do tell!" and we ended up texting back and forth for awhile and then he called me. We had a good chat and I guess he broke up with that girl he was seeing because she was just too much for him. I guess she would bribe him to stay together by buying him things and having sex with him, but she came from a rich home and was too spoiled and didn't accept the small things to be happy about in life. He also told me that he is majoring in Environmental Studies so I am happy for him! That is a good field to be in. I told him about my plans to finish school and then apply for jobs on the west coast and we both thought Portland would be a nice place to settle down if not Washington. I told him a ton of people I knew settled there and he told me about all his fun crazy adventures there and how the food is the best food he has ever had. So who knows what the future holds. All I know is I am going to work my ass off to GET OUT OF massachusetts. Maybe I'll change my diary name to "Leaving Massachusetts"