Last night’s show in Seaside turned out to be a beautiful love-fest… knowing this will be the last time I will see the ocean for a LONG time, we decided this morning to sneak away to the Monterey Bay Aquarium before driving on…

I think I was here once when I was 8 years old… my first time ever to see the ocean… my parents were definitely not sea-lovers, the few times we ever made it all the way to the ocean became giant life-memories, burned into my young heart… I remember being intoxicated by the strange, unstoppable salt air…. it felt like light being poured into me… there was so much sun and electricity of bustling tourists and busloads of swarming kids… my parents bought me a pre-packaged sea-shell, filled with smaller shells… I worshipped it like a secret, golden, buried treasure…

I could see the same starry-eyed wonder in Beth and Rob’s faces today… myself, I was hypnotized and in awe of the sea horses and jellyfish… so happy… so very happy…

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