Exactly Where I Am Supposed To Be

Forced to practice patience, recuperating from eye surgery, I find, upon reflection, that I am exactly where I am supposed to be today.  Eight or nine months ago I prayed for a little place we could afford – a place my wife could feel comfortable in, a safe homey place she could do her quilting, love her dog, find friends with similar interests and be close to her sister and to her mom who has just turned 91.  Me – the forever nomad wan-a-be, all I ever wanted was to spend a little more time in the tropics – swaying palm trees and warm water.  As if received by magic, or grace, or an answer to prayer, exactly what I need seems to show up when I allow it.  Today, we own a cute little place on a tropically named street, in an adult community called “The Tropics”. We call it the “beach house”!  I swim and sit in the hot tub just about every day and enjoy the swaying palm trees that abundantly dot our little community, just five minutes from my mother-in-law’s house.

My mother-in-law is celebrating her 91^st birthday these days.  I say these days because the celebration seems to continue week after week.

Two weekends ago my youngest daughter and her boyfriend came down from Sacramento to join us, as well as my wife’s sister and her husband, and their two daughters, and their boyfriends, and a couple of cousins thrown in for added flavor, for the first segment of the party.

We all met at an Italian restaurant in San Jose called Buca di Beppo loosely translated as Joe’s Basement.  We inhabited an alcove called “the Pope Room” during our stay in this quaint little establishment. It was an apropos setting for such a celebration since my mother-in-law, a devout Catholic, who still drives herself to church every morning to attend mass, is the closest thing to an angel that I have ever run into.

To arrive at the Pope Room, one must first follow the young hostess through a labyrinth of walkways as if following a tour guide through the streets and alleyways of Rome wondering if we might get to see more of these interesting looking spots later on during the tour. Above us, the oval ceilings are home to hundreds of wine bottles looking as if they had been placed there decades ago, patiently aging and waiting for their cellar master to choose the right time for the fulfillment of their life’s purpose.  There is not a spot on any wall of this interesting eatery that is void of a photograph, or a plaque, or saying.  One could spend hours roaming room to room as one does in an art gallery, and not see everything.

Upon reaching our destination, we find a tiny space almost completely filled by a huge round table.  With just enough room for place settings, the rest of the table is taken up with the largest “Lazy Susan” I’ve ever seen and prominently displayed in the middle of the large rotating mechanism is an almost life sized bust of some past pope, hands cupped in prayer overseeing his flock.

Above the table a brightly lit Sistine Chapel – like rounded ceiling complete with flying cherubs, and billowing cloud filled blue skies.  The walls of this room are covered with framed pictures and artifacts of popes from past years and centuries.

As the food arrives it is placed on the large round turn-style and one only has to reach a few inches to have complete access to the huge bowls of assorted salads, pastas, and breads in what seems to be a never ending supply of taste treats.

The roundness of the large table and the close atmosphere of the room gives everyone complete access to the matriarch of the family as she sits majestically in a high back pope chair.  Laughter and lively conversation fill the tiny room for what seems to be hours, and the bags of food that we leave with promises to keep us all well fed, at least for the next several days.

As appealing as a nap might sounds at this point, it’s back to the in-law’s house for birthday cake and gift giving.  It is there that mom-in-law learns that my daughter’s gift to her mom for Mother’s day and her Grammy for her birthday is a shopping spree the next day.

My wife’s account of the next day was about a happy 31 year old joyfully entertaining and being entertained – buzzing from one rack to another “try this one on Grammy – no mom – not that one  – try this one” – “those earrings are perfect!” – having a fun day with the two most prominent women in her life.

If I ever have to wonder – ever – if the sacrifice and toil of past years was worth it, these are the things that I will remember.   No one could have told me, when she came to us 31 years ago from that orphanage in Soul Korea that life would be as it is today!  Today she is a property manager for a low income family residence in Sacramento guiding people who would otherwise be on the street through the maze of bureaucratic red tape – helping them secure a roof over their children’s heads.

Four days later my 32 year old, also-adopted, daughter arrived from Southern California to continue the party!  She was not able to make it to the above festivities because, as the executive director of scholarship funds for a large City College, she was in the middle of a fundraising drive which raised over a million dollars so that low income kids can have the opportunity to attend college.  In June she will be at graduation where she will have the privilege of handing out over a 1000 diplomas to past recipients of these scholarships.

Her contribution to her grandma’s celebration was a delicious bar-b-queue at our little “beach house” and later a relaxing evening talking and soaking in the hot tub.  The next morning it was off for a wonderful day at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. First the Penguin Exhibit where we were in time to watch them feed and then to the aquarium exhibits which made us feel like we were back in the Florida Keys where we started our married life together.  More fond memories as we entered the new, not to be missed, Rain Forest exhibit.  Butterflies and songbirds fly freely and the wet humid atmosphere reminds us of those hot summer evenings when even a dip in to the hot tropical waters of the Atlantic was no relief from the stifling heat.

We lunched on several different taste treats including pho soup and pork buns from Viet Nam at the international cafeteria.

At one point during the afternoon, I whispered to my daughter – it might be time to think about leaving – I think grandma might be getting a little tired.  When asked if she wanted to go – she said absolutely not – let’s go this way… as it turned out – it was I who was exhausted.

I slept very well that night – knowing that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be today, and life is pretty good!