My friends Leah and Ed came and picked me up at 9.45am to travel to Los Angeles.
It is a 2.5 hour drive and predominantly on the highway between San Diego and Los Angeles.
On the way I marvelled at the 5 lanes coming in and leaving these cities, so much traffic and population. There are 3.8 million people in Los Angeles (smaller than Sydney 4.6m) and 1.3 million in San Diego.
We drove into Los Angeles and came in through some mountains that showed a view of the San Fernando Valley. We drove to meet with Dana, Ed’s sister. What I love about Leah and Ed is that they visit her every Sunday and spend the day with her. Dana is suffering from Alzheimer’s and is lucid then forgetful. Ed brought some shelving and drilled it up for her. She was a delightful woman and I found out before her disease she was bright and a former clown herself. It was lovely looking at the pictures of their parents and I wondered at how life is so changing and how time flies.
We went out to the famous Canters Kibitz room. I was told it was famous and both Ed and Dana and been there as children. Canters is in Fairfax which is not far from Sunset Boulevard and was a jewish area. I was told it had changed and the area was more mixed. This place was very popular at all hours in the morning. So we had some food there and I had a little walk around the area to check out the street. Ed and Dana reminisced about her boyfriend who she dated for 4 years. Ed and Leah decided they would send this ex boyfriend a postcard. I was thinking it is probably good to stimulate her mind but I wonder if you can stop Alzheimer’s or whether it is the family that has to adjust to the change. Not so easy.
We then drove her home and I felt quite tired after lunch. We then drove to jugglejam. The creator of this session were two amazing brothers who have set up a business to sell products to aspiring jugglers or object manipulators as he stated. These two brothers are from Malaysia and I noticed how gentle and attentive the two were. They were definitely masters of the universe, as I usually call exceptionally good jugglers. However, they see themselves not as jugglers but as object manipulators and when you see how they move the pins, the balls and other objects. The group was wide ranging from jugglers, to those interested in staffs, unicycle, poi balls, contact balls and much more. I found them definitely inspiring and one of the boys talked to me of the flow and how he felt a oneness with god. I told him I was a peace clown and he suggested we keep in contact. I’ve just looked at his website and I will definitely keep in contact. He was a wise person at such a young age and I feel what they are doing could be so helpful to young people, I felt the flow as well and see the wisdom in juggling.
After we left the jugglejam we headed back to San Diego. My friends listened to some country music whilst I listened to teachings. I was extremely tired so found myself drifting off only to find myself awakening when close to home.
We all said goodbye and I felt a sense of gratitude that these two people had taken me around, bought me dinner, introduced me to their friends and taken me to LA. It is moments like this that really make my trip. I am deeply thankful.
Tomorrow is another day and I am curious to see what happens.