California Dreamin' on Such a Winter's Day

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[justify; line-height: 175%]Sometimes reminiscing can pay off. Just the other day I decided to start digitising my old photos. Our family trip around the world in 1980 seemed like a good place to start. At the computer monitor the restored faded colours of the desert jumped off the screen "Check this photo out" I excitedly called over my husband. I beamed at the memories at our last family holiday together as we stood precariously on the edge of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Safety obviously not much of a priority back then. It was a bitter sweet experience though. I called the kids over to see if they could recognise anyone in the photo. They had no idea who it was, until I explained it was Grandpa, whom they never got the chance to meet before he passed away, Nanna, Aunty Marion and me. I then lamented over the fact that my children may never have an experience like this with their family. The cost factor was always going to be out of our reach and leaving our farming operation for any length of time, according to my husband, was nearly impossible. This long buried photo causes a ripple effect. It wasn't much longer before my husband got his photos out of his 1993 road trip through America with his best mate. He was busy telling the kids about everywhere he’d been whether they wanted to listen or not. There we were constantly out competing each other about the places we’d been. That photo does not leave my day dreams until the next week my husband had a doctor’s appointment in Perth. He leaves the farm early to have Xrays before hand. As it turns out he departed too early and has hours to kill in the waiting room for his doctor’s appointment for a knee arthroscopy. He has no option but to read the daily newspaper in minute detail. This is where divine providence sets in. In the fine print of the travel section he spots an advert. “5 days in Anaheim and airfare for 2 adults and 2 children under 12 for just over $5153”. Brendan immediately calls me so I could ring the travel company and investigate further. I immediately suppress my excitement thinking the ad must be a typo or at the very least the flights must be ex Sydney. I have never seen a price like that for 4 people ex Perth. It sure wasn’t a mistake, but my heart deflated when the special only went from May 1 to June 15^th, right in the middle of the farm’s peak seeding time and the school term. I wrote the idea off and tried to banish it from my mind. Banish it wouldn’t and there had to be more than one way to skin a cat. I called back and to my surprise it wasn’t going to be that much extra to fly in the July school holidays. I had two days to think about it before the special ended. Needing only two seconds to think about three issues. 1) My husband has never suggested going on a holiday in the time we have been together, 2) The Australian dollar is on a par with the US dollar, lessening the hideous hemorrhaging of money, and 3) my eldest child was turning 12 in December. I promptly booked it before I scared myself out of it worrying about all the organising I have to do between now and that that winter’s day when we’re all headed to California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah.[/justify; line-height: 175%]

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