Wow. What a crazy morning today was...I know I'm going to end up telling this story over and over again, so I figured I'd write it all down here.
Well, lets start at the very beginning...
Kevin picked me up from Danny's house around 7:30am, and took me to the Irvine train station. The original plan: take the 8:22 train to Solana Beach, get in my car and drive 5 minutes to work in Del Mar. I had a change of clothes in the car, and would have about an hour and a half to kill at Pannikin Coffee Shop before work at 11! Perfect, right? ....lol
Here's what actually happened:
I go into the Irvine station to find out that all southbound trains had been cancelled beyond San Juan Capistrano due to a mudslide somewhere between Oceanside and San Diego. Ok...great. So I plan to take the train to San Juan Cap and see if someone could pick me up from there...right as I'm about to buy a ticket, the ticket guy gets word that ALL southbound trains are now cancelled. ...ALL. As in...every single one. I had overheard a couple talking about trying to get to San Diego a couple minutes prior, and the ticket guy said they were planning on taking the train NORTH to Santa Ana, and taking the Greyhound bus down to San Diego. Awesome..."one ticket to Santa Ana, please."
I go down to the northbound track and end up running into the girl I recognized from the couple before...we get to talking, and turns out she's trying to get to Del Mar...right near where I work! Perfect...instant travel buddies. I come to find out that my new friend, Kelsey, is 19 and had never been on a train in her whole life. Ever. And had spent the last half hour freaking out about what to do to get home. Never fear - Stefie's here. Lol. We get on the train to Santa Ana, and all seems well.
By this time, it's around 9am, and I call work...my lovely boss says not to worry about coming in, and just to get home safe.
Once in Santa Ana, we find the Greyhound ticket window and buy tickets to Oceanside, where Kelsey's family can pick us up and drop me off in Solana Beach, at my car. Once we have our tickets, we head out to the bus pick up area. We go to take a seat on the bench, and sit next to a girl who, of course, we start talking to...turns out, Nicole, the newest addition to our crew, is heading to San Diego, too! Amazing. This girl is pretty amazing...she's a total free spirit...she's from Mammoth, travels all over, surfs, lived in Mazatlan for a while....she had one dangling feather earring, crazy curly hair, and wore floral tie-dye and boots. Um, I want to BE her when I grow up. So now I had the whole spectrum of new friends...Kelsey, a slightly uptight, nervous, rule-abiding youngin', and Nicole, a seasoned adventurer with an "it's all gonna work out, and it's gonna be awesome" attitude. Fun, right?
Our bus arrives, and we go to board, but are stopped quickly. The bus was full, and not taking any more passengers. Uh...perfect. We talk to the Greyhound desk lady, and she says the next bus to SD is in an hour. Alright...I mean, we have nothing else to do, and no other options, so we go to the cafe, grab a sandwich and a hot chocolate, and talk. Oh, and have a small run-in with a shoe-less man with tourettes. After an hour of fun conversation, we head back out to the pick up area. This time, we will push people out of the way to get on this bus lol. So we go to get on the bus, and the bus driver stops me. He's not going to Oceanside....so he's not letting us on the bus. Okay, no biggie. I go inside, the Greyhound lady takes my ticket, scribbles out "Oceanside," and writes "San Diego." Why didn't I think of that? Lol. I figure I'll find someone to pick Kelsey and I up and take us up to Del Mar. We get on the bus, and Nicole says she has to drive back up after getting her car, so she may as well just drive us to where we need to go! Awesome. We ride an hour and a half down to Downtown SD, and Nicole's friend Jessie picks us up (with her little baby in tow), and we go get Nicole's car. Then, our little trio jumps in the tiny Mercedes and heads up the 5 (in torrential rain, mind you). We get Kelsey to Albertsons (where her brother is picking her up), and then get me to Solana Beach, where I get in my car, and head home...at 2:45pm.
It could have been the trip from hell. I could have been annoyed and stressed and angry the whole time. Instead? I ended up meeting two really neat girls, and having a huge adventure. A trip that normally takes one hour took six, but it was six hours filled with fun conversation and stories from girls with completely different lives from my own. Nicole's friend Jessie said something really cool...I was telling her how this all happened because I spontaneously decided to stay in Irvine last night. Her response?
"Please don't let the rain keep you from your spontaneity."
It's cool to think about...why should we let the things that keep us down from doing the things we love?
I'm exhausted, but grateful for the random people the universe places into my life...it always works out, doesn't it?
As always,
love. love. LOVE.
Oh, PS: I know I promised an update and LA's Next Great Stage Star. Unfortunately, I decided to drop the competition. It is a wonderful opportunity, if I were planning on staying in Los Angeles. As you all know, I've been planning on moving to New York for a long time now...thanks to friends and mentors I've talked to, I've decided that there are competitions out in NY that will be just as beneficial to me, if not more. It's time to get out there! I'm happy to announce that I will be moving to New York the second week in January, with a specific date to be announced soon! :) I can't wait.
