Coronado Island...Thank-you....

View from our hotel of the Coronado Bay Bridge

View from hotel of downtown San Diego

Terrace (loved the terrace) of our room with a view..

Big California skies, the Pacific on Coronado Beach

Mussels and fries @ Chez Loma

We parked in front of this historic bungalow everyday @ the beach...

Historic Hotel Del Coronado...125 years old!!

Sand castle sculpted in front of Hotel Del...w/ Jimmy!!

Where we did not stay (one of the Del's Villa's)...lol...pretty!!

Chandelier in lobby of Hotel Del!!

Sunrise...

...and sunset...

This is how our vacation started...we boarded the plane, excited that our vacation was finally upon us. I smiled @ the man sitting next to me in the window seat, Jimmy was on the aisle. Window man and I engaged in very small chit chat. I noticed his accent. As always, curious:

Me: Where are you from?

Him: (short, momentary hesitation) Iran.

Me: (still in conversational mode, not thinking the worst) So, why are you going to San Diego?

Him: My wife's mother died.

Me: Oh I am so sorry. Last year at this time, my Mother died. I know how you feel.

Him: Thank you.

He went on to explain to me about the Iranian community in San Diego, that he lives in Denver. I told him that we were going to San Diego to celebrate our 25th Anniversary, that it was a happy occasion, that I hoped his next trip would be a happy occasion. I offered him some almonds, he said no, and put his hand over his heart. I had my Chaim Potok novel in my lap, he watched cartoons for the rest of the trip. We landed w/out incident and said our good-byes.

We had a wonderful time on Coronado Island. We wanted to go to the beach and eat fish. Anything over and above that would be icing on the cake. Just being there, smelling the water, waking up w/ the sun, seeing the pristine cleanliness of the Island, pastel colored bicycles everywhere, children pedaling freely, shiny cars reflecting the palm trees on their well polished bodies, knowing we were very very close to Tijuana, dreaming about buying a condo or a time share for our next trip back to Coronado (stranger things have happened) all added to the depth of our visit to Coronado. The icing was thick.

We planned the trip so that it would be the few days before the 1st anniversary, or yahrzeit of Mom's passing. I said to Jimmy, this was either a really good idea, or a really bad one. As it turns out, it was a really good idea. The anticipation of how bad the day might be was erased by the whole adventure. My gratitude of being by the ocean, the long walks on the beach, all took away the sting of the day. Honestly, I was glad that the first year w/out Mom was behind us. So, here we are, back from sea level to 6000 feet in the air. A seamless transition, this time...looking forward to the continuing adventure....

The Fish and the Loaves, The Traveling Plate!!

I was having dinner at the DC Coast restaurant, in Washington D.C., last Monday night, with some dear friends I had not seen in many years. While catching up a bit, we began talking about Israel and how they were thinking about going next year. I shared with them this story (among others) about our traveling plate. This is from the archives, but, certainly bears repeating!

This plate of the Fish and the Loaves was given to us by our friend, Iddo in 1995. Iddo was our tour guide when we went to Israel in 1990. Edward was an infant at the time and Iddo helped make our visit so special and forever memorable. We connected with him, not just for the 10 days we traveled together, but now, 19 years later, we still have a story to tell. This plate, the miracle of the Fish and the Loaves, represents feeding the multitudes. Jesus blessed the two fish and fives loaves, and miracle of miracles, 'there were about 5000 men who ate aside from the women and children.' (Mat.14:21). Iddo and his beautiful wife, Irit, gave us the plate to bless our household, and it did. But then, a few years later, his household needed a blessing, with tourism in Israel at an all time low, he needed some help. I thought, let's make a deal. We'll send him the plate for 7 years and then wherever we are in the world each of us would share the plate for 7 years at a time. Well, his time was up, (and then some), but, yet again, miracle of miracles, Iddo was coming to the States, New York City, to be specific. Lo and behold, my husband had to be in New York City at the same time! Jimmy and Iddo met in mid-town Manhattan and had a wonderful reunion over coffee @ Starbucks, catching up like two old friends who had known one another forever! Our household has had many blessings now that we have our plate back, and we are certainly always expectant! Iddo's business of tourism and lecturing is thriving. He loves telling the story about the traveling plate! We all realize that the plate is just a plate, but, it has great meaning to us and it's ours until 2015!!!