California - Day 1

The day after the service was tough.  There was nothing else I could do for Andrew.  Sara and Carey went back to work, Michael needed to get back home to California, Chris and Harry were headed for Mancation, while Matt, Natalia, and I remained lost.  Michael and his amazing girlfriend, Marganne, offered up their home for the three of us to get away.  After my mom died, Matt, Andrew and I went to Tampa for a week to get away.  It was one of the best times I have ever had with my boys.  We laughed so hard that week, because we could.  No one knew we were grieving and we didn't have to feel guilty when we had fun.  So I thought the chance to get away after losing Andrew would be good for us.  We couldn't get on the same flight as Michael that night, but we did manage to book tickets on another flight that would arrive just about the same time as his later flight, but we had a layover in Dallas.  So we decided to go.  None of us (Matt, Natalia, myself) had ever been to Los Angeles, and even though we were only going to go for three days, we felt it was worth it and that Andrew would approve.  It was as if he was traveling with us at times.  When we got to Dallas and the connecting gate, we found it was A22 - yes A for Andrew and 22 - his favorite number.  When Matt saw that he said, "Hey Buddy." I love how he always referred to him as buddy.  By the second leg of the flight we were exhausted.  Good thing we got to sit together, since Natalia needed a place to rest her sleeping head!

When we got to Los Angeles and met up with Michael, we took the shuttle to his car and then he immediately took us to In & Out Burger.  It was delicious, even if it was midnight in LA, which felt like 3 a.m. to us east coasters.  

Wednesday we slept in but I got up in time to snap a picture from Michael's balcony at sunrise.  He actually lives in Redondo Beach and it is just beautiful there.

We went to have breakfast at a pancake house near Michael's apartment.  I ordered a ham and cheese omelet.  It arrived and nearly engulfed the table.  The thing was so big I could barely eat half.  We all had the same problem and we all took home leftovers.  No kidding, I think there were like a dozen eggs in that thing.  I wish I would have gotten a picture, but food doesn't last long with Matt, Michael and me.

From there Michael took us to the Pacific Ocean.  Now keep in mind it is March and it is the Pacific, so it was much too cold to go swimming, well for me anyways, plus it was really windy.  However, the view was absolutely incredible.

The day of the service, Monday, the 28th, was Marganne's birthday, which Michael missed of course because he was in Georgia.  So we had to make up for it.  We went shopping and found her a wonderful laptop bag, a wallet, a dress (all Michael Kors), and then I told him we needed to get a cake as well, my treat.  So we went to a wonderful bakery and got her a delicious cake. I also got 4 red velvet mini cupcakes (Andrew's favorite) as Michael wanted to take use to a place called Nelson's for cocktails.  The place overlooks the ocean and is really spectacular.    We enjoyed cocktails and toasted Andrew with the cupcakes then headed back to meet Marganne for dinner.

 

 

Knowing Matt and Natalia love sushi, I asked Michael to take us where they could have great California sushi.  I don't remember the name of the place, but I do remember that Michael ordered a lot of sushi and it was gone quickly, so he asked the waitress to bring another round of the same thing.  It really was delicious and on the way home, I got a great sunset picture!