This was when I went back home to the states for Christmas and to visit family. It was a cold, windy night and we forced ourselves to get out of bed and visit the beach for old times sake. Driving down the familiar highways and streets, we arrived and were greeted almost instantly by the salty air. The clouds in the sky were ominous but we venutred out anyways.
We parked in a random parking lot of a boat club. When I was younger, we'd always visit Redondo beach quite frequently, weekly in fact. It became the church to our Sundays. We'd walk the pier and watch the fishermen put up their lines teeming with fish, see the tents lined up close to the railing, the pelicans scooping up the flying fish right out of the water. It wasn't a typical beach, you didn't go here to swim or come for the amusement rides, but it had an old feel and we loved it.
Spent the sunset throwing chips into the air for the hungry birds and watched as they devoured the tiny morsels. We ate at Cheesecake Factory, bought Dippin' Dots Bananana Split and went down to the pier's childs inside carnival room.
I never realized how clearly I'd be able to picture this room, though it'd been months since I've been there. Old, old, old. A word that can truly explain this room. The rides were encrusted with rust, screeching at every twist and turn and the random sudden halt. The room was abundant with a plethora of arcade games, crane games, psychic reading machines, photobooths, carnival games and the occasional shoot the star with a BB gun stall. The ceiling was strewn with various stuffed animal prizes: gorillas, fairies, inflatable dolphins, teddy bears in all sizes ranging from baby hand carry, to monstrous 'i don't want that in my home' ginormous size.
My little sister always gets her way. Period. We had just eaten a tummy filling dinner along with dessert , we were fuller than the moon that night. She said she wanted to ride the Twister ride. We did.
It was virtually the only carnival ride in the place. It was a circular platform with circles in which the riders ride in. Kind of like the tea pots in Disneyland, but not as cute, controllable or as, hmph... magical. It's a popular ride in the US and usually shows up at every festival, carnival, you name it. This one was old and rickety. Red, white and blue a la American flag. My sister, mom and I got on the ride, no one else went on. It always spins so slowly like a top and then builds momentum as the ride uses it's own gravity for speed. Rubberband effect. As you spin, the lights is the room start to blur, shoulders are mashed together as each person in the vehicle is thrown to one side or the other.
I can remember the look on my sister's face as it lit up like a Christmas tree. She took my hand and my mom's hand in hers as we screamed at the top of our lungs. My dad took this video of us. It was one of my favorite times when I came home. I can still replay the laughter and all the hair flying in the air as the three Calaguas girls rode the silly carnival ride.
We walked down the sand and onto the beach. I wore these booty heels and quickly threw them off. My dad and sister walked ahead. I found a dollar in the sand.
Then I found another dollar.
Then another.
Me and my sister tackled my dad. He held a five dollar bill in his hand. Wrestling in the sand, my sister holding down my dad's legs and I was tangled in his long arms trying to twist them. We must have looked quite a sight! My mom laughing and taking pictures with her phone, me and my sister trying to take down this large monster aka my dad. We won! By the time we had pried the money from his fingers, we were huffing and puffing, bruised, hair touseled, shoes scattered and we didn't know where my dad's hat went?! We're crazy sometimes. I love my family, we're all nuts <3
Looking up into the sky was a full moon. A large, perfect circle. A large sugar cookie I'd want to pluck out of the sky and take a bite of. It saw surrounded by a halo. Or what appeared to be a halo. On this night, the moon was surrounded by ice crystals in the atmosphere, casting a glowing halo of a ring around the moon. The crystals reflected the light from the moon. We lay on the beach, a hot mess of a family from wrestling and laughing till our ribs hurt, looking up into the sky. It was beautiful and it was every bit of magical.
