Beyond Kindness

Traveling for work can seem lonely at times, even though I spend all day talking with counselors and students. I spent the last week in California for my job.

Not a bad gig, I get to travel to neat places like L.A., San Diego, Aspen, Denver and meet with prospective students. This trip marked my second journey to southern California, and my goodness, it differed so much from last year’s trip.

This year, not only did I get to visit schools for a second time, I knew more counselors, I felt more confident navigating the region, and I made plans to meet up with a few of my friends who live in SoCal.

I found myself completely floored by their kindness.

I met one friend on my first night in town — he’s lived in the area for awhile and wanted to show me some of his favorite pieces of L.A./Santa Monica. We went for a fabulous, healthy dinner at A-Frame, followed by a walk on the Third Street Promenade and an even more romantic walk along the pier.

To top off the evening, we countered our healthy dinner with an ice cream cookie sandwich a piece at Diddy Riese.

The best part? I didn’t plan a bit of this — it was all his agenda. How sweet!

Later in the week, I found myself closer to San Diego for school visits, and met up with a dear friend from college. We hadn’t seen each other since 2007. She’s settled nicely into her SoCal lifestyle, and looks more beautiful and happy than ever.

She shared with me her most treasured beach spot and we went for a nice run/walk along the ocean. After working up an appetite, we hopped on her motorcycle to cruise down the street to a sushi bar where we ordered the “all you can eat” special. Simply delicious.

Unexpectedly, we found ourselves caught up in a conversation with two marines in town for the day so one of the fellas could get lasik. I even discovered that one of them lived in a town very close to where my parents were raised, back in Pittsburgh. Small world!

Even as I write about both of these adventures, I’m still so grateful for the kindness of sweet friends. A stranger to the area, they both set a mission to show me their favorite parts of each town and then shared not only the adventure but the most delightful conversations, too.

I can’t wait to return the favor to both of them and others who make the trek to visit my sweet little town.