First Day Here

Sunday was another long day of driving. We managed to leave our hotel by 8:20. That’s before I normally get outta bed!! Mike was able to rest well, mostly because I suffered alongside princess kicky pants.
The pass through the mountains is a long one. It brought to mind all the times my parents ventured along this highway with a pile of kids while towing a trailer. Although the highway system here is excellent, and there are no hair pin turns with oncoming traffic only inches away, the quality of the roads is an entirely different story. I had forgotten about America’s love with concrete. The roads are noisy and rough. So rough that at times I thought that we were experiencing one of those old fashioned exercise machines that shake the fat off you!

The drive was beautiful. I did my best to capture some of the beauty of the countryside. I’ve only ever been to California in the summertime and had no idea that they have a green season. We passed hundreds of ranches with rolling hills. All of them covered in a beautiful shade of green. All these hills are covered in grass, not trees like at home. Many times I would glance to the right to see a beautiful valley between the hills. These valleys reminded me of Psalm 23.

A Psalm of David.

1 The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell[a] in the house of the LORD

Forever.

The valleys were an oasis of small streams with rocky crags and small trees. It became obvious that shepherds would have to lead their sheep down these paths, where it would be impossible to predict the dangers. Clearly the valleys are a necessary part of life.

Today we left Kettleman, a small town just off the I5. We continued the drive town to Temecula. As we grow nearer, the mood in the van becomes more tense. Dad has his own way of doing things and wanted to drive a very long scenic route around LA. Although I agree with not wanting to drive through LA, I also don’t want to add more time onto this trip. We finally decided to follow TomTom, which miraculously skirted us around LA and south to Temecula. We arrived at the house around 3pm and were greeted by Winston and David. Although they both had to head out for a while we were given the quick tour of the house and the plans for the following day.

The funeral will be tomorrow morning, followed by the cemetery. There will only be eleven of us in attendance. Although I understand the desire to keep everything private. I believe that Janet should have had her life celebrated by anyone whose life she touched. I feel that we are all an intrusion on their highly organized lives. Victoria and Stephen are back at University and David is back at school and extra curricular activities. We were informed in no uncertain terms that they are all at very crucial points in their education and cannot afford to take any more time off school.

So we will have the funeral tomorrow and then part of Wednesday to visit with the family, then they go back to life. Again, I am having to adjust my views on how others deal with tragedy. We had originally planned to stay here until Friday or Saturday. But considering the circumstances it seems we will head out on Thursday. Part of me wonders why we even bothered to make the drive down here. I am still dealing with my own thoughts, but it seems everybody else has gotten though it faster then me. Lord help me through this. Being in her house is much harder than I thought it would be. Reminders of her are everywhere. I cannot escape the fact that we are here, in the very house where she died.

We still do not know why she died. Winston told us that because of the recession, there is a backlog in the paperwork for the autopsy. Thankfully they have released her body for burial, but it may be weeks or even months until we know exactly what happened.

So tonight I will try to get some sleep, and tomorrow we will go through what my be one of the hardest days we’ve had to face as a family.