This was a brutal morning. I spoke with my cousin Harrison on the phone and apparently the doctors had said it was time for us to say our goodbyes because there was a very small chance of my uncle opening his eyes and if he did wake up from the coma, there was an even smaller chance that he’d have any cognitive function. I called my mom and asked her to look into changing my flight. As much as I wanted to stay in la la land, I knew it was time I check back into reality and get my ass home to be with my family. Thankfully I was still at Mary Beth’s house while I got the news.. it was nice to have family near but I had to get out of the house and get my mind off of things. Plus if I was going to be leaving the next day I should probably head closer to the airport. So I called up my good friend, Cory and asked if he wanted to go hiking.
I was genuinely surprised that he was awake, though he was also barfing when I arrived, which is a testament to the LA lifestyle he’s been living. Nonetheless, he got himself together, and we embarked on our journey to theHollywood sign. We started our 7.5 mile journey at the Bronson Caves, aka Batman's Bat Cave, where there was some casual filming going on. Typical L.A.
The whole way up, it was totally mind numbing. I had great company, we had great conversation, the views were spectacular; it was enjoyable to say the least. Plus it took my mind off of all the crazy shit that was going down in my life.
On the way down, however, it was like, the closer I got down to earth, the more real all these issues seemed to become. I spoke with my mom after the hike and we determined that changing my flight was simply out of the budget. So I stuck with my plans to drive up to Santa Cruz the next day and luckily found a place to crash in Santa Monica so I didn’t have to drive south to Mary Beth’s in Newport just to turn around and head North again in the morning. The couch I crashed on was orchestrated by a dear friend of mine, to whom I am very grateful, and I ended up sharing some drinks and board games with my temporary roommates before catching some solid Z’s.