A week ago, I flew out to San Diego to spend a few days with my uncle. It was my first time visiting the area, and the flight process was smooth. Since it was close to the lunch hour, we went to the downtown area to find a place to eat. It felt like such a foreign place to me, with buildings everywhere and no greenery around to be seen, but what really hit me hard were the people I saw.
This wasn't only the homeless, though I did see some of them around, but as I looked around at the people surrounding me, I could see a distinct sadness in their countenances. They weren't angry, more melancholy and sometimes miserable in their expressions. These people, I thought, must have had a rough go in life. There was also an elderly gentleman outside our window while we were eating, who was moving his wheelchair at a snail pace to cross the street. Oh, how it hurt watching him struggle! No one paid him any attention while he crept along the crosswalk. That made my heart so sad to see that; that an elderly man could have used a little extra help at the moment, and no one cared. I seriously ached watching him. I pray that man is watched over, as well as the rest of them.
We went to the San Diego Zoo, which was a much lighter environment, and did some activities there for a while, taking the bus tours and riding the sky ride. I wandered a little through part of the zoo, but my uncle, being older, started getting tired. I wanted to go to so many places still, but I've been exposed to enough older individuals to recognize when they are getting worn out, and my uncle was getting vastly tired. He didn't want to disappoint me and take me out of the zoo before I was ready, but I knew by the signs I was seeing in him that he wouldn't be able to handle the rest of what I wanted to do, so we left.
I stayed that night in the master bedroom of his house, and it influenced me to think about my aunt, who passed away the month before my mom did. There were still some of her belongings remaining there, ghosts of the past, just like I have in my house. It was nice and quiet there, and I was able to have time to myself to think, and to be a little goofy--playing around with my camera again, in a non-serious way. I get way too silly when left to my own devices sometimes.
That ended my first day of adventures.
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| Waterfall at San Diego Zoo |
