Its the second day of the second month and my second day back in Boston. I had such a wonderful 10 days in Southern California. During this trip, everyone made special time to spend quality time together beginning when Jonathan picked Marc and me up from the airport and drove us to dad's house where Sam met us and we all had a nice deli lunch. Dad and I planned the lunch for days, should he get the turkey from Costco, or the Jewish deli, or maybe go to the Italian Deli for hard rolls and thinly sliced turkey, and then get cornishons from Trader Joes, such a production! But mom eventually convinced him to just go to Costco and get everything in one place. On route, Jonathan showed us a picture of his girlfriend, a dark haired beauty from Moorpark who attends Mount St. Mary's a Catholic, all girl school, what a nice half Jewish girl doing in a place like that, I wondered? She is very smart and sweet and I'm happy to see Jonathan happy. After a lively lunch, Marc, dad and I walked up to the clubhouse and the lake. Marc really enjoyed the natural beauty and he walked down to feel the hot natural spring water. He later told Ben and Leah all about it and they can't wait to go there and go swimming and see Bubbie and Zadie. The little kids have totally embrassed and adopted my family. They talk about their Bubbie and Zadie to their friends telling them, they have the "coolest" grandparents in California. Not to mention their cool big bros, too. Sam drove us home where we were welcomed by Emma's kisses and sniffs. She was very happy to see us as evidenced by her wagging stub. The house was pretty well maintained by Sam, who rearranged all the furniture to his liking. His friends refer to the place as "Sam's Place" I am very proud of him, he is very responsible and we had many thought provoking conversations over dinner and wine almost every night. He told me about 6 books he wants to write one for each of the 6 aspects of health - physical, mental, spiritual, etc. He has a class in health and nutrition and the textbook is packed with information that can be overwhelming so he wants to break it down and write for kids before they have made bad habits. I am happy to see him so interested in health and nutrition as I have tried to instill good habits in my children from day one by limiting fast food, eating organic, living by the beach and encouraging sports and not having tv. He will make an excellent doctor by practicing health and wellness. Always thinking about stuff and very curious, he asked me to find him some interesting books on tape that he can listen to on is Iphone while he works out. Sam and Marc connected on their own at dinner while I was at Kat Knecht's Heartlink meeting. Sam told Marc that he is impressed by the way he parents his children. The guys came by afterwards and were greeted by all the women who had heard my story. It was fun to show my men off and tell the story of how Marc and I met and the whole romance of it. I am so encouraged to write a book because our story is very inspiring to all.
Marc conducted a perfume workshop for Carolyn and her neices ages 14-44. It was a lot of fun and very exhuberant. He was fun and flirty and very knowledgable about the history of perfume and the reason the French wear so much is because in the old days, water was considered dirty so they didn't wash, they wore perfume instead. He made all the ladies blush when he recounted how Napolean would tell Josephine that he was coming home from battle in 10 days -not to wash! Oh the French! He also met with Carol and presented her with 3 flacons of hypnotic scents for her to use in her practice as a hypnotherapist. Its always so inspiring to get with Carol, she reinvents herself in such interesting ways and she is so inspiring, I think we keep each other inspired. She is also quite a beauty. Another good meeting Marc had was with Gail, the french chef turned celebrity Vera introduced me to. Gail wants Marc to create a scent for him and for his restaurants to sell on his website and tv series. His keen nose loved all of Marc's sample scents and I think it was a very good creative match. Marc came up with the idea of doing French experience workshops at Gail's restaurant to include french wine, cheese, hors d' oevres, perfume making, music and the ultimate is a trip to the South of France for the ultimate french experience. This is so exciting to me as its my dream to combine all things french.
On Marc's last day we reminisced about our wonderful time together in LA/Ventura. While it was short it was very inspiring. Marc feels that the LA market is where he needs to be which makes me happy because then we will be traveling there together a lot. We hosted a get together for my friends from temple, Marc and dad connected on Israel and on being rascals in common. He connected with Sam and Jonathan and he really feels embrassed by my family. Too bad mom wasn't there while he was but, but she came in to see me. Marc loved the weather, my home, my boys, my friends and family and I think he is smitten with California. We spent our last evening on a date in Santa Monica - saw a movie and had tapas for dinner. The movie, An Education, reminded me of all the bad luck I had in love, but I did not give up and I kept putting myself out there. Luckily I did because I have been rewarded big time. Marc is such a gem and I love him so much.
I spent the next week visiting friends, hanging out with Sam, making dinner for us. Mom came in for the weekend and we all spent the weekend together. I picked up Mom and Dad and we drove Sam down to spend the night at Jonathan's. We had dinner together and the next day we drove out again to spend the day with the boys in Westwood. It began with chicken soup at Juniors, then a walk on Westwood Blvd and a search for the Paris bakery and book shop. I found the bakery but sadly the bookstore closed. I bought croissants and macarrons. I so miss France! Jonathan wanted a manicure of all things so we went to the mall and both Jonathan and Sam were rubbed and buffed by 4 Vietnamese babes while they sat in the spa/massage foot bath and got mani/pedis. They were NOT the only guys there and they really enjoyed the treatment. So now I have something to do with my boys. Me, Leah and the boys will get mani/pedis while Ben and Marc go do something manly.
I had such a good time with everyone. We did stuff as a family. My parents were happy, the boys were happy. Sam complimented me on what a cool mom I am and how I am able to remain close in spite of living far away. He enjoys his time alone and his time with me, its a good balance, one I am so grateful to maintain. Its the best of both worlds. I truly am blessed, I even missed all the bad weather in California and the below zero weather in Boston. It was stunningly beautiful in Ventura, the waves were high, the sky was clear, the air was brisk and the view of the islands was spectacular. Now I'm back in my Lexington pad, the weather is cold but mild. I have stuff to accomplish and I'm inspired and I am loved and in 2.5 weeks. we'll be back in CA again. Ah life is good!
