It seems that we Sloans have places that we like to go--mostly because we become somehow sentimentally attached to them. Places we like to go together. Think Poncho & Lefty’s, Fiesta Fun, and Coral Hills in St. George. Or Sam Hawk, Tanners or Redman campgrounds, and Litza’s Pizza. I love having places like that: good food, fun things to do, and most of all, great memories.
In Costa Mesa, California, there’s one of those places.
Melanie, Emily, Kate, and I have taken many road trips to Southern California. Those trips are some of my favorite memories: sun, sand, swimming, shopping, sleeping (and Sephora, slurpees, silliness...). We’d stay at the Ramada in Costa Mesa. Go to the Grower’s Direct store across the parking lot to get fruit to counter-act all the sugar we’d eat (giant bags of M&Ms and Skittles). We’d spend hours on the beach, and hit the big malls like Fashion Island and South Coast Plaza. We’d try something a little different each trip, but we still liked our regular haunts, like Oh Those Donuts.
I was in Costa Mesa last week. I took a drive into that part of Costa Mesa so I could go to the donut shop. I drove by the Ramada, and the Grower’s Direct, and then I went into Oh Those Donuts. I was thinking about how different life is now. I was there while my husband was in a training class close by, and my baby was sleeping in the back seat of the car--far away from the fun-and-fancy-free days of those road trips. But when I pulled up to the donut shop, all those fun memories were all still there. I had this feeling that it doesn’t matter where we are in life, there will still be occasions where we can visit those places all together again, and create new memories. I was feeling a little sentimental thinking about my girly-trip companions when I went in, because I got four donuts: one for each of us. (No, I didn’t eat them all...my post-pregnancy diet isn’t going great, but not that tragically.)
I’m just glad we have those kinds of places as a family.
