It Is Brain Surgery - Part 1

Time to get back to writing...and I may as well start here.

Sixteen days ago I was in my own brain spin trying to figure out why the hell my daughter had to have brain surgery. The idea of it was beyond surreal and farther out than out-of-body. Tyler (my other kid) was already up at my daughter's to help her focus on the couple of weeks she had left of summer school at Berkeley when we found out the surgery would be sooner than initially planned. Without Tyler around, I spent the days leading up to my trip in a complete fog. Running in circles. Trying to figure out what the hell I needed to do. Knowing I would be in Nor Cal for a few weeks. Not knowing what I should take. My daughter was the one that was having brain surgery. I was the one that was brain dead.

Somehow I managed to get myself and my bags together - which included an Aero bed that I purchased for a decent discount from a nearby going-out-of-business store so I wouldn't have to spend three weeks on the shitty single-bed fold-up futon I had given my daughter. I said my good-byes to Drama...
...and boarded the Super Shuttle to LAX at 1pm on Monday the 11th. (no, I could not find anyone to drive me to the airport).

It was my first time flying Virgin America - the only airline that seems to be on top of things these days in the realm of boarding early, taking off on time and arriving early. They have brand-spanking new aeroplanes with fancy purple lighting and hi-tech heavy plastic shelled seat backs complete with the latest in-flight entertainment system.


The only bad thing about the flight was that I left my sunglasses on the plane. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Tyler picked me up at SFO - I was happy to see him. It was past 5:30 and I hadn't eaten all day so in the interest of having one last respite from the still-not-real reality of the impending brain surgery, I talked him into taking me to eat at Buckhorns. The last time he and I were in SF at the same time - must have been last year when I was dropping Everybody I Shot Is Dead at the printer's brokers - he picked up these amazing tri-tip sandwiches from a mall and I was, and remain, ga-ga for them. Although this time we were eating in so I ordered the tri-tip plate...

And trust me, it tastes even better than it looks. The eating court at this mall is like nothing I've seen before. All kinds of upscale gourmet-type places I haven't seen in L.A. or anywhere else for that matter. Like this place for all you Gelato lovers out there...

Not my thing but I had to take the photo because I was fascinated with how they groomed their mountains of ice cream, or whatever that stuff is.

We barely finished eating when Jaimie was calling wondering what was taking us so long. I don't think she was so much interested in seeing me as she was in getting Tyler back there to participate in the hair-cutting ceremony. It was actually on doctor's orders that she buzz-cut her hair two days before showing up at the hospital. They say it's important to cut it close but not to nick the skin in fear of apres-surgery infections. Personally I think they asked her to do it to save their shaver person the time it takes to do the whole head.

The cutting party started out by the pool with a few of Jaimie's friends, including a French couple doing an apartment swap who she'd only met two weeks before. One thing about Jaimie...she's good at picking up new friends. We each took turns grabbing a tuft of hair and snipping it about an inch from her scalp. Being the evil mother that I am, I was looking forward to seeing her look less than beautiful with a bad haircut...probably because I am still suffering with the worst-haircut-ever so much so that I've finally given up trying to do anything with it. But, as my luck would have it, she looked freakin' beautiful every step of the way. No matter how bad the haircut got she didn't look one lick less pretty. Fuck. That's. Just. Not. Fair.

After the poolside trim we retired to her apartment where Tyler took the clippers to her head (he was the only person she would let near her with the buzz-buzzy shears)...check this out...

This is a completely unretouched photo I took on my iPhone. I love this picture. It now resides in my all-time Top Ten.

After the joyous festivities Tyler and I gave the girl her space and retired to the near-by Travelodge where we had a room with one bed, which I gave to my son in favor of christening the Aero bed myself.

To be continued in It Is Brain Surgery - Part 2....