Remembering a road trip to LA

Thinking about one of the many stops we made during a long trip to Los Angeles

Just after my son’s first birthday, we had to make a trip to Los Angeles. At that time, we rarely made road trips because my son would get motion sick after half an hour of being in his car seat. We had to get some paperwork done at the embassy, and so, we decided to make the long journey from the Bay Area. Normally the drive would take around 5 hours, but in our case, due to the frequent stops, our journey lasted 14 hours.

I saw a lot of California along the 101 during that trip 😅.

One of the last stops was Gaviota State Park Beach in Santa Barbara County. I had never been before, and it’s the first beach you reach when the 101 veers sharply eastward from its journey south. When you enter, you see a parking lot, an elevated railway track, and then the glistening water of the Pacific. This was the first time my son was ever on a sandy beach in Southern California, and this was the first time his feet touched the ocean. Our northern beaches were always too cold.

I still remember how his relationship to the sea transformed over the course of the week: from confusion, to fear, to curiosity, to glee.

Now my son loves going to the beach. We live in Malaysia after all; the country is surrounded by warm, bath-temperature water. I still cherish the memory of those few days and being able to witness my child grow up.

I wrote the following poem about a picture that I keep by my son’s bedside of that day we went to Gaviota State Park Beach.

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Gaviota State Park Beach, August 29, 2020

A little boy
Sitting in the lappy shade of his mother
As if it was enough 
     to protect him from the world
This back, this body
The sun was high above moving west

Sharing an apple
Held by the core
Your small fist holding my big bite
14 hours later
Still in your onesie
Happily matching my shirt
On our mat
In the sand
Facing away from the west
Still in the safety of my lap
Your warm head 
Smelling of fresh field mushrooms
I bend down to inhale 

This picture I chose for your bedside
To remind me how much I loved you when you were one
The first time in the sand
The first time at the beach
The first time we drove 14 hours to Los Angeles
The first time you touched the sea
The first time in my lap on the sand at the beach by the sea

And all the things to come
To remind me how much I love you now
To remind me, achingly, of how much I love you now.  

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Thank you for reading. I hope you’re having a good week.