My California Journey
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I have a lot that I want to get out. So be prepared for a post that is about everything.
My California adventure started out with a bajillion hour drive down here with my brother Matt who happens to be amazing. It’s the last time I’ll see him for a while since he heads off to boot camp while I’m here and it was great to spend the time with him.
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The drive was beautiful. Most of my traveling has been done by flight – which is nice, don’t get me wrong – but you miss a lot of stuff going that route. Take-off and landing and passing by the occasional mountain are always exciting and breathtaking. But there is a lot of beauty going on beneath you that you’re just missing out on. We witnessed the regality of red rock splendor, the simple beauty of Nevadan cacti, and the impressive magnificence of Californian sagebrush.
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I’ve spent the last two weeks working like crazy to get my lab ready for me to be down here learning amazing things at the hands of a fully specialist aquatic medicine specialist. Crunching in four weeks of work into two didn’t seem to stress me out, but those highways sure did. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. But now I’m fairly adjusted so I’m not gonna die out there which is nice to know.
Eventually after some maneuvering, we got to my great-uncle Roy Bartlome’s house. He’s a great guy who lives on the hills of Glendale, CA overlooking LA. It’s gorgeous.
See? I told you. Every single day I get to look at this. I feel pretty lucky.
On Saturday we tried to maneuver the bus system to figure out how I’d be getting to work every day. Everything was going smoothly until we got off the bus to get on the train that would take me to Long Beach. The station was right there at the very intersection we disembarked. It was perfect. Too perfect. The street was under construction and the train was no longer coming that far up. So we tried several different bus stops and looked up all sorts of bus routes to try to figure out a way. Then we gave up and rode the bus home.
But our adventures and failures on the bus were not the important lessons I learned (though I am grateful to know that my plans were doomed to failure and that I didn’t try to get to work that way this morning). It was the people around me that I was impressed with. LA is diverse. There are just so many different types of people. And they are all great. I watched countless people give up their seats for the elderly. Warm hearts gave directions patiently to those who were lost (ourselves included). There were people from all walks of life in LA. We saw homeless people, wealthy businessmen, and people everywhere in between. And they were all great. We talked with Roy about it that night and I think he said it best, “People are great. You take away the people from this world, and you really don’t have anything.” They really are. I know that bad things still happen and that bad people still exist and that there is a whole lot more going on in this world outside of the human. But I am grateful for that human part. It really touches us and gets us to be better.
Eventually we got back to the car and went to see the beautiful Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Man I love that place. It’s wonderful. I got super pumped about interning here. They even have a sweet sand-castle in front. Who doesn’t love that?
Today was my first day as the Veterinary Support Intern at AOP. And I loved it. Dr. Adams is a great veterinarian who is both kind and educating. I’m going to learn a ton with him and these next five weeks are going to be phenomenal. Yesterday an animal died so we performed a necropsy today. I have to say that the body is marvelous. Every system works better than anything we could ever hope to design. It’s inspirational to watch. Every bit of the process was enlightening. Dr. Adams took me through the whole process, quizzing me on anatomy as we went. I even got to participate in the necropsy itself. It was a great day.
Every time I see an animal get cut open I can’t help but be overwhelmed by the beauty, complexity, and wonder of it all. But each time I am also impressed by the absence of a spirit. There is something fundamentally different about a live body and a dead one. And that difference makes all the beauty, character, and personality of each individual organism.
So if I’ve got to get a theme strung together through this set of ramblings, it’s got to be this: life is beautiful. Get out there and enjoy it. This world is gorgeous, people are great, and life is precious. And I’m in for one amazing adventure!
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