It’s funny how much things change over a decade or so.
I’m back in a town I haven’t been to in 10 years. My wife and I first came here together in 2012, then once again in 2015 to visit my parents. This was before we had kids, so things were different for us too.
I walked into the Starbucks yesterday. The same Starbucks where I’d sat w/my wife around 12 years ago, I remember looking at the newspaper headlines every day, and writing about whatever it was and its correlation to either government incompetence or police corruption, or both.
There aren’t any newspapers here anymore. I looked. They used to be right next to the register.
I remember buying my first Bitcoins here in this town. I placed the order via Bitinstant, and had to go to a Wells Fargo bank and deposit a very specific amount, to the cent, into a specific account. My order was for around $150. I crossed my fingers and hoped it would work.
A few hours later, sitting in my brother’s house, I opened my Bitcoin client and they had appeared! Around 10 Bitcoin. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, money that you could send anywhere, to anyone, without any censorship.
This trip, I feel busier than I ever have while visiting here previously. I’m trying to work while taking care of my kids w/the wife, and visiting my parents and brother and his family.
My dad can’t walk well or get around on his own. That trip 10 years ago, he was driving and walking just fine. He’d walk to the coöp up the road from his house and drink coffee with the other old codgers in his small rural town. Now, I have to help him sit or stand, and he uses a walker. Today he has heart surgery, in about 40 minutes or so.
This time, we have our beautiful children. They bring us and everyone joy.
Some things don’t change
It’s still hot all year long. Smell of brine in the morning (which I like, it’s kinda nice). Strong Mexican influence on the culture. Fan palms all over, which is nice here. Just a few miles north and you don’t see them anymore.
My parents still don’t take care of their health.
One week is still probably plenty of time to spend here. Outside the metro area, there’s only desert everywhere. Not worth leaving the city. Still some nice places in the city to visit. Nice cafés, homes along the waterfront.
There’s still a feeling of familiarity I have being here, after having been here for several weeks of my life, starting when I was around 12 or so. Yet it’s not a place I long to return to. If it weren’t for family, I probably wouldn’t come back. There’s no strong draw.
The shoreline is nasty — just super dirty. Huge concrete slabs from derelict structures and prickly-pear cactus plants instead of sandy beach in many places. Oil refineries everywhere. They look like huge pipeline cities. Enormous megalithic structures. Wind turbine farms all over.
I don’t know if I’ll ever come back here. I don’t know if I’ll ever see my parents again. They’re too feeble to travel now, even on a plane. Feels crazy, considering they flew to Brazil to visit us just 4 years ago after our son was born—change can happen fast.
But we also don’t love being here. It’s hugely inconvenient. We drove this time, but after we relocate to Washington state, that’s not going to be so easy. We’ll have to fly or make it a 5- or 6-day trip instead of a 2-day one.
And that’s just considering when we’re in the United States. We also travel and spend a lot of time outside the US, so even less convenient or do-able once we’re gone. I guess that’s why we’re here now. Now is the time to visit mom and dad, because there may not be another. I may get another moment, but it will never be this moment. Ichi-go ichi-e.