Ten Things I Learned Going to California

In no particular order...

1. If you take the red eye, get a window seat so you can lean on the window to sleep and no one can see you drool.
   
2. If there are pillows on empty seats as you are boarding the plane, don't be shy about taking one. You can bet there won't be one on your seat when you get there.
3. California is very far away from Florida.
4. I can now fart and even take a shit in a public bathroom. It's only taken me, what, 55 years or so to accomplish that.
5. Avocados cost $2.00 for 4 in California and $1.99 for 1 in Florida, but gas was $3.35 there, and $2.98 here in Sarasota. Just deserts...sort of.
6. There are way too many people in California, and big wide highways, and big cars which are driven way too fast on the big highways.
   
7. If you are going to visit someone who is ill take a 'light read'. I took A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, which is a beautifully written book, but a bit of a downer considering I was visiting someone who is closer to death than not. Not much balance for me.
8. If you have a dog that is old and incontinent, don't have plush carpets...or any carpets for that matter...
9. I don't bounce back from lack of sleep like I used to, and without it my brain is more muddled than it normally is.
   
10. Listening for hours to family stories and laughing at family jokes is priceless, and worth everything.