California – Apple Town and In-Laws

Cupertino Aka Apple Town

In our last blog, we detailed how our fears of air travel from Grand Forks to California were assuaged by trust in God and by what seemed to us to be the help of near angel-like people. We left off with our landing in San Francisco. Our first couple of days in California were spent in the Cupertino area where Apple has a corporate office called Apple Park or Apple Campus 2. We both carry iPhones in our pockets and sport Apple watches on our wrists, so it was cool to be in “Apple Town.” This is a beautiful area with few bugs (except in the phones), perpetually sunny skies, an amazing array of bush and flower types, warm temperatures year-round, and swarming Teslas. 

Time

One reason we were in Cupertino was that it had a solid and reasonable handicapped-accessible hotel close to our son’s in-laws who we promised to visit if we ever were in the area. Well, we were only a few miles from them so we arranged to meet them on a Saturday evening. Let me just say “disability” especially in a fairly new family unit like Chris and I, immediately adds 20-30% time to any watch, Apple included. We thought being in the home of our sporty devices would keep us cheerfully on time. Nope. No matter how early we try to be for appointments or meetings since going on disability, there’s always some equipment malfunction, bathroom break that took longer, vehicle boarding that was more laborious, and pill taking that needs attention right at the time of departure. I could seriously keep going with that list, but it might seem like I’m just justifying our lateness; well maybe, but the reality of stolen time and disabilities is a real thing. 

Dumped 

Before our dinner date with the in-laws, we decided to take a wheelchair spin through the neighborhood. There was a cool-looking city center park nearby where parents parked their Teslas near solar-powered recharging pods and the kids played cricket on what I assumed was a cricket field. The day was warm and beautiful, but after several blocks of circumnavigating around the park we were a bit further away from our hotel than we wanted to be, and suddenly time was again our enemy. In haste to get back to the hotel to ready for dinner, we (Chris) crossed a road a bit too fast onto an uneven sidewalk transition and my smaller front wheelchair tires locked onto the change in surface and suddenly Eileen was on the pavement, with Chris staring in horror. Before we could say “boo” a passerby stopped his vehicle and he and Chris carefully checked me over (nothing hurt but pride) and returned me to my wheelchair and off we went; not any slower but more carefully. Once again as at other moments on this trip, the angel was gone before we could get his name. Such is my life and now my favorite CA story is how Chris dumped me near a park in Apple Town, California.  

The In-Laws

The word “in-laws” often sparks an American trope of anxiety, ill-will, and tension in families. Not ours. We love our son’s in-laws as if we’ve been good friends all our lives. They are at the pinnacle of kindness and compassion, understanding that my disabilities have worsened steeply since our son and their daughter married in NYC a few years ago. That said, we fell in step with the American in-law trope by being late for our rendezvous with them in their hometown. Ok, we (Chris) did have an excuse in that he took some wrong turns following an Apple map on his Apple iPhone while leaving Apple Town. But in his defense, we quickly recovered from our miscue and met them at a bustling yet cozy Italian restaurant in their hometown. We enjoyed great food, meaningful conversation, precious tears, and of course lots of laughs at the expense of our children. After dinner the mother jumped into our rental, gave a us mini tour of their stomping grounds, and helped Chris and I navigate to a beautiful garden plaza also called their ranch home. More laughs and more tears were had and then back to the hotel in Apple Town. We got a great night’s sleep and readied ourselves for the easy 3.25-hour trip (according to Apple Maps) from Apple Town to the northern California town of Elk; forgetting that critical element of disabilities and time. More twists and turns next blog.