Socal

The Intellectual Insurgent goes to San Francisco and Mr Sleep heads in the opposite direction.

Mr & Mrs Sleep spent the weekend visiting our eldest son, in San Diego. It was a combination of business and pleasure for both of us. Yours truly had meetings most of the day on Friday, in one of my Company's offices in the northeast part of the County, and my better half, had a Conference in the Hotel Circle area Friday and Saturday.

We had Dinner with our oldest son, on Friday, at a small local restaurant in the Pacific Beach area, and while his Mom worked on Saturday, #1 son and I played Golf at a newer Golf Course in Escondido. Golf is one of the few things that I share a common interest in with my sons. It's something we can just enjoy together. A chance for exchanging some good humored potshots, commiserating on bad luck (unlucky bounces, lost balls, etc.), or the pats on the back for the occasional good shot. Plus you get the opportunity to review the whole day in the 19th hole, and have a great "coulda, woulda, shoulda" review of your Round.

What's good about Golf, is it avoids many of the inevitable pitfalls of the Parent/Child relationship (parents constantly wanting the child to benefit from the experiences and learnings of the parent).

Our oldest son has always been one to go his own way in life. He has always patiently listened to his parents advice, and in the end say "Mom and Dad, thanks for the advice, but I think I'll do my own thing (paraphrased). We see him make choices we would cringe at, yet it is something all parents have to do. An example is when #1 son was caught wizzing on a Palm Tree while on Spring Break in Cancun a few years back by a Policia. Luckily for him, the officer accepted $40 U.S. as a payoff to prevent him being run into the Slammer.

While we all want things to happen perfectly for our kids, it is a pipe dream. Shit happens. They will never be able to learn from all of our experiences, and they will learn the hard way in more cases than we would prefer as parents but it is the way that life is, and should be.

II, yes, I did take some Digital photo's of the day, but haven't yet had the time to download them, as I didn't get home last night until after 9PM, and had to be up early to head back to the office today.