April 2012- A small world indeed

After going on the whale tour, I was still feeling woozy but thankfully, I did not throw up. So I decided to go get some seafood.

I was enjoying my food at the restaurant next to the the aircraft museum in San Diego when I get this impression to hurry and leave. I didn't want to but I've learned to follow those instincts.

As I was walking out, I caught a glimpse of a man wearing a BYU t-shirt coming in. Then I thought: "Wouldn't it be funny if I know the guy."

My eyes follows the man, then towards his children and then to his wife. The wife recognizes me! It was the....

Christensen family!

One of my dear friends from Misawa Japan. 

Seriously,  I love running into friends from years ago but especially Japan! We shared some very important experiences while we served in Japan together.

I caught a glimpse of the dedication, sacrifices and commitment families made while one of them were deployed for months and even years. 

While their dad was deployed, I used to take their oldest son to hang out to give mom some time alone and to be with her friends. It was neat to see how much their kids have grown up.

Since they had a considerable time to wait for their table (a family of 6 is harder to find seats for than a single guy), we decided to take some photos together under Marilyn Monroe's skirt (it was a statue) and I joined them briefly when they were seated. 

Honestly, it was great to see them again! They were vacationing here as well and they told me about Silver Strand beach. I'm glad they did because it was much quieter than Mission or Pacific beach sides. I don't really like crowds that much especially at known touristy spots.

I also went to the San Diego temple.

Visiting the San Diego temple for the first time was jaw dropping. Literally. A temple worker asked if this was my first time.

I asked: "How did you know!"

Temple worker: "I saw your mouth drop"