Stateside

The end of April will be Mom’s one-year anniversary since moving to Australia. It has been a big adjustment for her and for our family. I know our challenges will continue as they naturally come with the territory of growing older. Our latest adventure together was a Stateside girls’ trip so Mom could catch-up with friends and family she’s been missing. Catherine and I accompanied her to LA, the Bay Area, Houston and Winona, Texas. It was an intense whirlwind of a visit.

We left mid-week on the last week of school term 1. Shortly after settling in at the gate for our flight from CBR to MEL, a fire alarm went off. We were told we needed to evacuate the terminal just as the flight was ready to board. That was a nerve-racking start to our journey. We made the connection at MEL with only a short time to wait to board our long-haul flight to LAX.

As with our last experience at LAX, it was a welcome breeze to pick up our luggage and go after our long journey. We were picked up by one of Mom’s friends, Georgia, and sat through the familiar LA traffic for over an hour.  We dropped off our bags at our hotel in downtown LA and were then driven to my childhood neighbourhood, which is now called Historic Filipinotown. We passed by my high school, Belmont, and my elementary school, Rosemont. I don’t think Catherine was too impressed. We had a satisfying brunch at a Filipino restaurant, Kubo, before accompanying my mom on a bank errand up the road. Georgia drove us back to DTLA afterwards were we got Starbucks, shopped and bubble tea before being able to check-in to our hotel, The Haas. We were then picked up again for dinner with relatives. We had more Filipino comfort food at L.A. Rose Café and drove by familiar places including my junior high, Virgil. It was a nostalgic first day.

Our second day we took the free Dash bus to Chinatown where Mom and Catherine had their hair done. Catherine discovered street vendor mangoes but wasn’t a fan of the tajin seasoning. We also had dim sum in Chinatown before getting an Uber to Alhambra for Mom’s dentist appointment. The day ended with a fun musical, Funny Girl, at the Ahmanson Theatre with a group of Mom’s friends. She was very happy.

Day three Mom needed to get Korean cosmetics at the Santa Anita mall. We spent the morning there and ate lunch at the food court. We took public transport back to DTLA and in the evening we went to a great concert, Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. We also had Shake Shack for dinner. This was my happy night.

The next morning was an early start. We flew from LAX to OAK. Mom’s brother picked us up from the airport and we drove to Concord, CA where we stayed the next couple of nights. Temperatures were much cooler in the Bay Area. We had a fun family lunch with my cousins’ families. It was so good to see them and meet their kids. Unfortunately, later that night Mom tested positive for covid. This intensified everything. Catherine and I were fine to skip sightseeing. Shopping at Walmart and eating at Olive Garden were our highlights on our last day there.

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Our flight from OAK to HOU was another early start. Fortunately, the flight wasn’t full, and we were able to spread out a bit and have a sleep during the four-hour flight. This time we were picked up by Mom’s youngest sister and her husband. They drove us out to Pier 8 Seafood Market where we had a tasty lunch, including frogs’ legs. Catherine was happy to be reunited with Tita Angie and Tito Lu whom she got to know in New Zealand last year. We all stayed at another aunt’s house in League City for the next 2 nights. This was a new experience for Catherine as there was often a lot of family around with lots of talking, eating and singing. We were able to do one touristy thing and visited the NASA Johnson Space Center. It was so good to see and spend some time with more cousins whom I haven’t seen in a long time. But we did miss out on seeing 2 families due to Mom’s illness.

The last stop was Winona, TX where my cousin who used to live in LA just moved to. We drove and convoyed from Houston to Winona with another aunt and uncle. It took us over 4 hours to get there. Winona was quieter than Houston but there was still a lot of people around at my cousin’s house. We spent our last 3 nights there and enjoyed the Texan countryside. Catherine enjoyed playing with her younger cousins and meeting a new friend.

It was a rough trip with Mom getting sick but it was heartwarming to spend time with my aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids. It was lovely to see Catherine connect with new relatives. Our extended family were so welcoming and we were looked after and fed well. I hope one day some of them could come over and visit us on our side of the world.