Sweet Son #2

The drive from Tracy to SFO is long.  Through Tracy to 205 then to 580 West.  Merging into 238 then 880 south.  92 West over the San Mateo bridge - white knuckling with the 'high wind' warnings flashing on the bridge entry and the small white caps in the bay.  Then 101 North and finally, to the hotel where we're spending the night.

Son #2's sweet, handsome face in my rear view mirror - with his cool dark glasses (that he got before he went to Rome) and his Sharks hat with my headphones on his ears.  I threatened his life if he was to forget to give them back to me  - they are Bose noise cancelling headphones and they will make the 11 hour flight from Atlanta to Paris pass without me ending up feeling like my head has been jack hammered for that length of time.  He didn't forget.  He bagged them in the bag and made sure they were near my purse - then he helped his dad unload the suitcases and get us checked in while I parked the car.

The traffic on the other side of all the freeways was horribly backed up - every single road appearing to be bumper to bumper.  We tried to get him to stay here and have dinner with us to give the traffic time to unwind a bit - but he's anxious to head home for time alone.  Or not.  Reasonably sure he's having some action (say it ax-she-own) this week - as is expected.  The 'she' in the pronunciation is pun intended.  And other friends, too.  I reminded him there are a lot of red Solo cups already in the garage so no need to procure more.

He drove my car home and I reminded him repeatedly to be careful.  No texting.  No calls.

We walked back down to the lobby where J. and I headed into the restaurant to grab some dinner.  It was after 6PM and very late for me to eat -

Hugged that boy within an inch of his life as he set off towards home - sure he's ecstatic for some non-parental time while also knowing he will be lonely a bit.  It's good for him to work through being alone - it's important to learn to just be 'still' within yourself now and then.  We think (fingers and toes crossed) that he has a job starting sometime this week - so we'll see how that goes.  It's restocking merchandise of all kinds in various stores - so the hours vary and there's time to get to/from the location that is in his own personal car.  Don't think they reimburse for mileage though they do get some kind of 'pay' for longer drives to/from.  It's a job so we're not going to over-analyze at this point.

My blueberry martini and J.'s margarita were excellent but the food was so-so.  Not horrible.  Just not great.  We ate it anyway 'cuz we have no car and nowhere else to go.

When we got back to the room after dinner, I found this on the desk:

That is H. speak for 'Love you, Momma'.  It's the way he and his brother always spell Momma.  It's our thing.

We Skyped with Son #1 also which was a perfect ending to the day - 

We're getting ready to call it a night - up early tomorrow to get to the airport by 7AM - luckily, it's only 10 minutes away so it should be a fairly easy morning.  Then long, long flights - first to Atlanta and then a 3PM (Atlanta time) departure for Paris.  

Next time I update, we will be at the Mayfair Hotel in Paris.  Unless I splurge for an hour of Wi-fi on the plane which could happen....

B. is envious that our flights give us unlimited beverages of any kind.  He said if he had that, he'd be out like a light (sleeping) in short order.  Maybe I should consider it 'cuz I dread the whole not sleeping a wink for 11 hours and being awake for close to 24 by the time we get there - but I'm averse to hangovers.  :-)