California Trip--Home again, thank goodness!

I will be doing a number of blogs about my recent trip to CA (San Diego and San Jose), since there is too much info to cover in just one. And, like, there are pictures.

For now, I would just like to say:
1) I am really happy to be home.
B) It was a great trip--everything I could have hoped for, on both legs of it.
And 2 and 3/4ths) OMG, I hate flying.

Addendums:

1A) Except for the snow, of course.
B+) No, really. It was fabulous.
And 3 and 4/5ths) Big kudos to Southwest for getting me (and everyone else) home and safe, even with unexpected plane changes, and multiple delays.

As they said in my favorite movie, The Princess Bride:
"I will esplain...no--it too much, I will sum up."

The trip in general went well. As most of you know, I was already planning to fly out to CA to visit with the family in San Diego, then fly on to San Jose for Pantheacon (the biggest Pagan convention in the country) and to see my step-daughter Jenn. Of course, then came the news that my beloved grandmother (Germambie) was dying, and things got--shall we say--more complicated.

Alas, I didn't make it out to SD in time to say my goodbyes while my grandmother was still alive. In fact, I missed her by THREE DAYS. She died on the 14th and I flew out on the 18th. But I was able to say my goodbyes in other ways, thanks to my mother, who kindly arranged for me to be able to visit my grandmother's body before she was cremated. This sounds a bit ghoulish, I know, but she looked as beautiful in death as she had in life, and only as if she was sleeping. I got to say the things I needed to say. Then the family--including my sister and fabulous brother in-law, who had flown out with me--got to spent two days together, which was very healing for us all. More on that tomorrow.

Then I flew out to PCon (more on that later as well), which was also wonderful.

And then I spent 150 years on a plane. No? Okay, maybe it just felt like it. But I left the hotel at 8:45 AM PST, got on the plane in San Jose for a trip that started at 10:10 AM, and got in at the airport at Albany at midnight, EST. In between, there were two unscheduled plane changes, a number of delays, and one cross-airport sprint. All of which was followed by the drive home (which I didn't have to do, thanks to my amazing pal JC) and an arrival at home at 2 AM.

And at that, I still feel lucky, since my Llewellyn editor and other folks had their flights cancelled, and may or may not have gotten home at all. So I'm recuperating from the trip, catching up with my 200+ emails, sucking up to the cats, and generally feeling grateful to be home.

It was wonderful to see everyone, and I promise a more detailed report on the rest of the trip tomorrow and the next day...when my brain has figured out what time zone I'm in...

Oh, and I finally got to meet my CP (critique partner) Lisa DiDio in person...and she ROCKS. Just sayin'.