1.01.09. Last year during Christmas time Matthew was in China studying and praying at a university in Tsingtao. This year he was back in California and we unpacked presents together in the living room. He got me a book about a nonprofiteer in Pakistan who made schools for Muslim girls in the countryside with his wife for a living. On Christmas Eve we gussied up for Pa’s Christmas choral performance on Blaney. In the church, I recognized some faces I hadn’t seen since Montclaire. The songs were familiar and sung with heart. There were many warm and cheerful faces from the neighborhood enthusiastic about wrapping up another year in sunny California.

The brothers Rocks made several obligatory trips to the Valley Fair shopping emporium for window shopping and actual shopping. Apple store, shirt stores, cafes, Best buy electronics and Borders booksellers. The mall crowds were plentiful despite reports in the newspapers about consumers pinching their wallets this 2008 Christmas cycle. We dined out on occasion, at the pancake house in Saratoga, Mexican taquerias, and the Stanford outdoor mall on Page Mill road. Hadn’t been up there in years. The streets were real clean and green sycamores line the neighborhood front lawns- very refreshing compared to what I’m accustomed to here in LA. In 2008 I’d made a number of trips to Garden Grove to get a feel of what life will be like in July of 2009. It will be better that’s for sure. It will be a place where I can be proud of my country, where others fly the stars and the bars on their front porch. Got my guitar and my suitcases are packed, just waiting for the July train.