San Diego

Jim and I took a trip out to San Diego this weekend. We met up with his friend Ted from New Mexico and his friend Robert who lives in San Diego. The purpose of the trip was to see his friend Robert, who has a brain tumor and is not expected to live. While the trip had a sad purpose, it was an unbelievable experience. The whole thing was surreal/magic .. I wish I could explain it better.

Our journey began when Jim and I left for SD early on Friday morning. We arrived in SD at about 10 a, checked into our Hotel and had a few drinks while we waited for Ted to arrive. We wouldn’t see Robert until the next day. To make a long story short, we drank (to excess) poolside at the hotel and had a VERY good time. Ted is an awsome guy, and is probably the most laid back person I’ve ever met.

On Saturday we grabbed an early breakfast, and went down to the water to visit The San Diego Maritime Museum. The weather was perfect, and we saw everything!

We met up with Robert at around 2pm back at the hotel. Robert is dying, but you would never know it. His attitude is unbelievbable. He looked like a happy guy. We all sat out on the balcony of our hotel, listened to music and told stories. The four of us laughed a lot. We then headed down to the hotel pool/hot tub and continued the party there. We decided to have an awsome steak dinner, so we went over to Ruth Chris Steak House. We had an great meal, a few cocktails and headed back over to the hotel, where we picked up a few 6-packs and sat outside again, listening to music in the cool San Deigo breeze. The laughs continued till about 1:30 am when Robert had to start heading home. We walked him down to his car, and watched him drive off. We’ll probably never see Robert again, but the day we spent with him couldn’t have been more perfect. As I’ve said, there was a surreal feeling during the whole day that I’m not talented enough as a writer to explain via the written word.

During the short time I got to spend with a dying man, his attitude torwards life was inspirational, and I suspect will have a profound impact on me. I think Jim and Ted were also touched by Robert’s thirst for life, and his choice to face his illness and live to the very best of his ability during the time he has left.

As for Robert, he is starting a new round of treatments for his brain tumor. He’ll know over the next three weeks how those treatments went. There is a small possibility that things can turn out ok for him. If so, I’ll lok forward to seeing him again sometime. If not, I’ll never forget the short time I got to spend with him.

I’ll keep my readers posted on Roberts condition as I hear about it.