Life In One Day

On Martin Luther King Day of 2001, I decided to go exploring. I had just moved to San Diego a few months before, and my future wife had to work that day, so I decided to get up very early and see how much I could do in one day. I woke up at 4:30 am, and took a quick shower and went for a drive. I lived in an apartment in the San Diego suburb of Poway. I was soon on Route 67 heading south on the way to Route 8 East. I had a very specific destination.

I wanted to reach the highest point of the Alpine Pass and watch the sunrise over the desert. On the way there, I ran into snow near the town of Alpine. I made it through the treacherous roads through the transitional area between the mountain and the desert and I made it to my destination. I pulled over to the side of the road, and saw the sun rising in the east. The sun rise is always awesome, but to see it like this, over the desert... it was beautiful. After sitting there for half an hour, just taking it all in, I had another destination in mind.

I headed back west on Route 8 and took a right on Route 79 and headed north. I stopped by a little diner in the small town of Descanso to get some coffee. In my haste, I mistakenly put some syrup in my coffee instead of sugar. I drank it, and it tasted like crap, but I needed some caffeine after waking up so early. Soon I reached my second destination of the day, Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. There was about 9 inches of snow on the ground, so I played in the snow for about an hour and a half. It was freezing out there, and the snow was still falling, but it felt great. It reminded me of the other places I had lived, where it would always snow at least once a year. By this time it was about 9:30 am, and I knew I had another place I wanted to see that day.

I got out of the snow and headed back west on Route 8. I went as far as I could go until I reached my third destination, Mission Beach. Changing into my shorts and a t-shirt, with my discman in hand, I walked along the beach listening to the U2 cd All That You Can't Leave Behind. It was a comfortably warm day but not too hot. I spent a couple hours there, just sitting on the beach, taking in the sun's warm rays.

I called the future wife and we made plans to meet at her office to get some lunch together. I met her at 12 noon on the nose. We went to a local eating spot called Mama Leone's that she had been raving about. She found out Mama Leone's secret recipe for her marinara sauce, which she still uses to this day! It was 1pm and I still had more to do!

I went to the huge Regal movie theater in Mira Mesa and decided to see a movie. Family Man with Nicolas Cage. Not the best movie in the world, but it wasn't horrible. I then drove back to my apartment complex around 3pm and decided to relax in the hot tub by the pool. After my rough day of leisure I needed to wind down. After soaking in there for about an hour, I decided to run to the local comic store and pick up a graphic novel. I then went to the grocery store, got some food for dinner, and went home and made dinner.

This day remains one of the best days of my life. Where else but in Southern California can you see the sunrise over the desert, play in the snow, and then go to the beach and get a tan? And all this was before noon. I knew in a couple weeks I would be asking her to marry me. The ring was paid for and the plans were in motion. The only thing missing from that day was sharing it all with her!