I’m sure as this blog goes on, there will be plenty more posts about this trip. Here’s a quick backstory: In 2018, I dragged my family out to California to spend my 43rd birthday out there. We left Chicago at a very early hour on the day we flew out, so by the time we got to LAX, NO ONE was feeling this trip (more on that in a future post lol). Nonetheless, looking back on this trip now, I’m glad I pushed everyone to do it and was able to make it happen. It was an experience with Randy (and Jen and James, as well) that I’ll always cherish. My only regret was that Jordan (Randy’s sister) wasn’t there with us.
The day this picture was taken was on my actual 43rd birthday. We were traveling from the Santa Barbara area to San Francisco. It was getting late and we had already been in the car all day (NOT a great way to spend a birthday lol). So since we were traveling on the Pacific Coast Highway at the time, Jen suggested stopping at the nearest beach we could find so we could at least watch a California sunset for my special day. I thought that was a great idea and started looking for the closest beach we could find. We ended up stopping at the Marina State Beach, which is just north of Monterey, California.
Now, one thing I can safely say about Randy was he was NOT the biggest fan of going to the beach. He had a hard enough time getting around on stable ground, so sand was not his friend. And sand in his shoes was a big pet peeve of his. So, needless to say, he didn’t enjoy this stop. There was a large hill that led from the parking lot down to the beach, so Jen and James went down the hill and I stayed in the parking lot with Randy. It was a chilly evening (late April), so he was wearing his Special Olympics hoodie and with a bit of a stiff wind, he put the hood on to bundle up a little. For whatever reason, I saw a great photo opportunity. I called his name, he looked up at me, and I took this picture of him. It is by far one of my favorite pictures of him of all time. I don’t know if I could’ve posed him any better than it turned out. But it was so natural and such a really cool moment to be spending it with him on that beach. I’m really missing him tonight….
For the love of Randy... 