The whole push for this road trip that transpired in less than week, was visiting my Auntie Lily. She is the younger sister (the Olivine) to my Ji’chan. She is the sibling (besides my Aunt Dorothy who has since passed away) that I am closest to.
She lives in Salinas, down the street from the high school my grandfather attended before World War II.I have been here  often enough that I  can instinctually find my way from the freeway, pass the downtown, and out among the shrinking small farm fields my Aunt’s house sits.
We had dinner together and played in her backyard.
We brought flowers and jam, picked up at a farm stand and a coffee shop. She asked about the boy’s enjoying their magazine subscription (for the last year I had no idea who was paying for it- so sneaky). She told me about her falling a couple times in the last year, I gave her my apologies for not showing up at my grandfather’s memorial (she would never ask, but definitely seemed confused). In the conversation, more than once she called him my dad, which is how I feel.
I thought for sure, procrastinating this visit, that I would burst into tears when seeing her. I regret not having seen her when she came down for the memorial from last year. She reminds me of my grandfather in a multitude of ways. However, the tears followed the visit, driving back to the hotel. While visiting, I was immensely thankful.I read books with Olivine on a blanket my grandfather’s mother made from scraps of fabric. A fifty year old blanket that looked incredible.
And to look up and see my children bonding with my aunt,
 was priceless.
We promise to return, to write more letters and make more phone calls,
maybe bring tents to sleep in the backyard.
Then headed back to the hotel. We stayed in Monterey so we could also visit the aquarium,
which is always worth the cost and the crowds and the parking.
The two special exhibits featuring  jellies and tentacles left us in awe.Plus the boys asked a dozen times to promise to let them return when they were eight and sign them up for the dive class.Oh how we love aquariums!Then we hit the road again:Just a bit further north.