This past weekend Mike and I went on a short trip with our best friends. We met with another couple, and we all shared a wonderful time together. Between the three couples we have 146 years of marriage.

Mike and I will be celebrating our 53rd wedding anniversary in January. Our marriage, like all marriages, has endured storms. We made it through all the choppy waters because we understood that everything in life passes through a period of testing,  It’s how we choose to move forward that makes all the difference. Using the metaphor of weather, and how it changes, is a perfect way to describe a marriage. We know that all storms pass through, some are much more destructive than others. I believe that most marriages that are going through troubled waters can be saved.

Saving A Troubled Marriage

If you have been blessed with children, they must be a major part of healing the marriage. You cannot be selfish in a decision that affects others. Consider the consequences before making a life-changing choice. It all starts with God, and we know that He hates divorce.

I Am Sorry

These words are part of my vocabulary. Even when I know that I am right about a situation and there is no way to convince the other party, I apologize for the sake of peace. Believe me when I say letting go of something hurtful takes time. But if you don’t nip it in the bud,  these emotions can pile up within you until they rule over you and convince your mind that you have  been wronged. A marriage should never reach this type of tension. Forgiveness should always rule our hearts.

Forgive

Why must we always forgive? Forgiveness builds character and develops special graces in us. We can move freely to get past any transgressions brought on by others. There is power in forgiveness.

Therapy

We were not born with immediate solutions to all of our problems. Each and every day offers us another opportunity for growth. We all want the right answers, but to some the repetitive wrong reactions give the impression that you are right when in reality God is attempting to teach you a life lesson. When our children were in the teenage years I had to seek outside counsel. The therapy helped me understand that my parenting needed more assurance. Both Mike and I worked at making sure that we were doing our best in raising our children.

I also discovered through therapy that inner healing was part of God’s plan.  In order for me to become a better parent, I needed to learn to love myself. That terminology “love yourself” was unheard of in my Hispanic culture. Though it took some time, God was teaching me all along that my inadequate feelings  of  self-love were part of the problem in my parenting as well as my marriage. We all want to be blessed with a happy marriage, but it could take a lifetime of lessons to achieve.

Good Friends And Family

I only have a handful of good friends, and I cherish these relationships because they have taught me to become a better person. This last trip was wonderful because we all had a common ground of enduring marriages and we love the Lord. We all have grown children and grandchildren and love to share photos and stories of our families.

We met in Nashville to celebrate the opening of Larry and Helen’s son Jason’s restaurant. Jason and his wife Sarah, along with their three daughters, moved to the south two years ago, and they are both working hard to make their business succeed. Mr. J’s is quaint, impeccably clean and the food was wonderful!

Nashville

We were in Nashville in 2018, and I do not remember this city being so crowded with so many party people. It seemed that this is the place to go to when having a bachelorette party. With so many busy Honky Tonk bars, it was difficult to choose which one to experience the music. We finally walked into Nudies. This establishment houses three stories of millions of dollars of country music memorabilia. It also has three stages and Nashville’s longest bar, 100 feet. We stayed to enjoy a few songs; maybe now I will develop a greater appreciation of country music.

The Food

Yes, the food was great but so was the company. When we break bread with friends, the memories are more special. We all ate so much barbecue: ribs, pulled pork and tri-tip, along with all the sides. We came back home with a few extra layers wrapped around our waistlines.

Sunday

In order to avoid committing a mortal sin, I found a Catholic church not far from where we were staying. What a wonderful surprise to see so many families attending the 11 o’clock service. As we were leaving I spoke to the deacon. He shared with me that he was from Orange and attended Orange High School in my home town.

My Prayer

Dear Lord, Thank You for Godly friends. I pray that we all remain dependent on Your guidance in our lives. Help us to become better parents, grandparents and friends. As we grow older give us favor with a healthy lifestyle. Bless our marriages and keep all evil from us and our families. Amen.

Larry Jr. (IV) was 14 years old when he founded Surf Trip Supply, his  clothing brand.

COVID

In the idleness of COVID, Surf Trip was born. With mandatory shut downs of all beaches in California, Larry imagined what he would take on a surf trip. He started sketching T-Shirts; he did this for four months. With all the sketches he looked for a screen printing company to produce his T-Shirts. Using $150 of his own money after many attempts Larry found a company that would work with him.

Surf Trip was written on his first sketch, and that is how the name of his company came about. His first order consisted of ten T-Shirts. At $30 a piece they were quickly sold to friends and family. For two years the business was stagnant, but he continued to make products. The discovery of Tik Tok catapulted Surf Trip and gave his product a larger platform.

Tik Tok

Larry quickly mastered the use of Tik Tok to promote his product line. Posting seven Tik Tok’s daily finally got him the recognition he was waiting for. He went viral. In 2023 he understood what “viral product” meant. People would instantly purchase a product that had not been made or seen before, so his first drop of 50 pink corduroy baseball caps sold out in 45 seconds! This gave the young entrepreneur more incentive to do everything bigger at a higher scale. He repeated the process in a larger volume.   http://Surftripsupply.com

With the growth of Surf Trip Larry hired four persons to help run ads on Instagram and FaceBook. Almost all of his drops have sold out. His father Larry helps with the packaging of orders and the logistics of customer service, while his mother Chantal answers all the direct messaging for Surf Trip. His father also runs a family-owned business as well.

His Birth

Our families have been friends for more than 30 years. When  Chantal, Larry Jr.’s mom, was expecting her first child I had a vivid dream about her pregnancy. In the dream I had a vision of a light-skinned, blond haired, blue-eyed boy. When the baby was born she was totally opposite from my dream. Larry (his father) and Chantal’s daughter Sophia was born with dark brown eyes with  hair to match. Though I shared the dream with Chantal before the birth of Sophia, it never left her mind. Two years later their son Larry Jr. was born exactly as I envisioned in my dream, light-skinned, blond hair with blue eyes. His genes are from both his maternal and paternal grandparents.

Family

Larry Jr. comes from a large extended family with a colorful bloodline. His maternal grandmother, Pamela, was born in Ireland and his grandfather Mustafa was born in Egypt, while his father’s family are Mexican-American. I know for a fact how his parents and grandparents pray for him and how he has brought them great joy.

I have known Larry his entire life. There is something unique about his family; they are surrounded by love. When you have the love element in your life, it builds confidence. But what I have witnessed in this young man more than anything else is the love he has for Christ. Prioritizing Christ in your life makes all the difference because when you master this at such a young age. Wisdom is bestowed upon you. Truly it is a gift from God.

Faith Based

Though his family is Catholic, Larry’s education was Protestant-based. He attended a Christian elementary school and graduated from Orange Lutheran High School.

Larry pitched the Surf Trip product  line to the surf coaches at his high school alma mater, Orange Lutheran, and got the bid to supply the team with jackets, shirts and hoodies.

Larry is now a freshman at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. On Sundays he attends Vintage Church Malibu and on Wednesdays he is worshiping God with his fellow Pepperdine students at the “Well” held on campus grounds.

Prayer is an intricate part of Larry’s  business. He prays before he designs, posts and drops new merchandise. Prayer has helped him develop into a social influencer. He witnesses his love for Christ by including John 16:33 on all his clothing tags. On the label of the product description you will find the inscription: “Jesus loves you.”

I have mentioned in several of my Blogs how the Lord allowed me to take different paths to find my way back into the Catholic Church. Always having  the desire to grow and to understand God at a deeper level, I learned to love the Word of God through my journey as a Protestant. The fifteen years away from my true calling as a Catholic have brought me to respect others on their journey. The Lord had such loving patience with me in my immature plight to convert the world into whatever I was believing in at that period of my life. Now looking back on this journey, I can see the fruit of my wayward adventure because it was a sincere effort as a babe in Christ. I say “babe” because I rarely attended Catholic Mass. As much as I wanted my two closest friends to convert, they were the ones who gently pulled me back into the Catholic Church. One of them, Helen, is Larry Jr.’s grandmother. My husband Mike and I are Larry (his grandfather) and Helen’s  dear friends. I mention this because we are connected in this vast family of God.

My Prayer

Dear Lord, I pray for Larry Jr. and his company Surf Trip Supply that You would continue to give him wisdom in every area of his life. May all of our youth be drawn to serve You. Bless the future generations with Godly boldness. Allow them to become Your gentle voice in a world filled with perversion. Lead them, Lord, to speak truth and to walk humbly in the path You have provided for them. Amen.

It’s been a minute since visiting Mario.

The Church Meeting

Attending  the 8:35 a.m. meeting after Mass on Saturday was a clear indication that the visit with Mario was going to be blessed. I asked both Fr. Moneypenny and Fr. Eliardo for special prayer. On the way to the Norco Rehabilitation Center I tried to pray a rosary but got distracted by my wayward mind. I called my brother George to wish him a happy birthday and desperately tried to get back into praying the rosary.

Expect the Unexpected

I had no idea how long the meeting at church would last, so I made the appointment for the visit from 12:00 p.m. through 2:00 p.m.  It quickly went downhill from there; I arrived at 11:10 but was told I had to wait until 11:30 for the 12:00 p.m. visit. The interesting thing about this is if I did not have an appointment and arrived earlier, I would have had more time for the visit.

The officers check everyone, and we all must comply with their rules. They count our jewelry, go through the money we bring, then the magic wand is waved over our bodies. From there we move on to the next step. You meet a lot of interesting people, some are very friendly while others are extremely standoffish or angry. As for me, I always try to make small talk. While we were waiting for the final  clearance I noticed two women who were carrying large, see-through bags with extra clothing, Their visit was overnight. I met  a sweet young lady with her two young daughters. She had a clear purse with about four inches of one dollar bills. I had gone to Ralph’s Grocery store to exchange a twenty and ten dollar bills into one dollar bills. I also had about $15 in quarters.

The Money

By the time I reached the second checking station, I realized that I had forgotten the other dollar bills at home. “I don’t think I brought enough money,” I said to the lady with the two girls. She quickly answered, “I’m  giving you $10.” “No! No!” I answered. “Please, I don’t need it!” She insisted and gave me the money. The first thing I did was purchase a ticket for an opportunity to take a picture with Mario.

The Tables

At this point your shoes and belt come off to go through another security door. Once inside you go to the desk for an assigned table. “Can I please have a table in the shade?” I asked. Much to my surprise the officer said,  “I’ll do my best, but looks like they are all taken.

There were several prisoners wearing bright colored orange vests to help us visitors. I asked one to get me The Good News Bible. Since Mario cannot get near the vending machines, I purchased fried chicken, with Doritos and Miss Vickie’s kettle potato chips. I placed the chicken in the microwave for three minutes while purchasing a Dr. Pepper for Mario. Table 19 was partly shaded.

Twenty-five minutes passed  before Mario came out for the visit. In one of my other visits I mentioned a Jewish man and his sons who came to visit him. They sat directly across from me, and I heard or eavesdropped on a very interesting conversation. This prisoner is an attorney for people in the entertainment industry. He was instructing his visitors on how to handle certain clients.  I pretended to peruse through the Bible until a horrible spirit of conviction came over me. I quickly opened the bag of Doritos and started munching on them.

Mario

By the time Mario arrived the chicken was cold and the Doritos were in my tummy.

Praise be to God Mario got all of his classes. Statistics, psychology, sign language, history, and English. He is most challenged with the statistics class but really likes the instructor. He received an 84 on his first test and was happy with the results.  The college instructors come to the prison in person to teach and only the sign language class is virtual.

The Family

The kind lady who gave me the $10 was sitting two benches away from us. I told Mario about her giving me money and he quickly said, “You need to give her back the money!” “You don’t need to worry about it, look at all the money she has,” I answered. We could see the wad of money from where we were sitting. I made other purchases of a Payday candy bar, Knott’s and Famous Amos cookies. Again, Mario advised me, “You need to give her all the money you have!” I counted 12 one-dollar bills, but Mario wanted me to give her all the quarters as well. I made a hand gesture to get the lady’s attention and told her that I was going to give her back the money. “I’ll give it to you when we are out in the parking lot.” I told her. Can you imagine all the commotion it would have caused if I gave her the money under such scrutiny? It might looked like an illegal drug deal!

The Bible Study

I started with Proverbs, Chapter Two, about gaining wisdom from God. Mario was familiar with many of these verses. We also read most of the Book of Ephesians.