My Summer Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago, after my sophomore year of college, I found myself in that weird summer lull of, do I move back in my with parents until August, or try to stay in my college town of Lincoln, Nebraska until school starts back up? Neither sounded that exciting to me.

So when my friend Tyeler casually mentioned to me one day she was going to be living in Coronado, California for the next few months at her parent’s summer house and I could possibly tag along… I was like a cartoon character having to roll up my tongue gawking at Jessica Rabbit, only Jessica Rabbit was the thought of living in elusive California.

Keep in mind when I graduated high school I had dreams of skipping college all together in lieu of moving directly to California to become a. a surfer or b. a movie star. Both were VERY realistic given my talents in surfing (zero experience) and acting (couldn’t get a lead role in my high school production of “Annie.”) Thank you parents, for not encouraging this.

Two years after high school, I naturally jumped at my chance to live my life as a Cali girl once and for all.

Tyeler’s one rule for living in her family’s home was this, “Let’s just be clear, I’m not here to entertain you.”


Luckily her mom was. (In the form of cocktails on the patio every single night at 5 p.m. on the dot.)

We worked Monday-Thursday in downtown San Diego at her uncle’s law firm. I thought briefly about studying law at this time, mostly just so I could tell people, “I’m thinking about studying law at this time.”

Lols.

In hindsight, it’s now clear to me her uncle was doing a family favor by allowing Tye and Tay, the two annoying interns, to come to work in his office everyday. Pretty sure we were more of a nuisance than anything else. Even though we really don’t look anything alike, no one seemed to tell us apart there. I was called Tyeler. She was called Taylor. Tay and Tye. Tye and Tay.

In true California form, the office was “business casual,” and we took that to an extreme. Wearing our gross old sorority keg race t-shirts to work, Hollister cargo shorts (maybe that was just me) and flip-flops, while not thinking twice about it.

Given that Tyeler and I share the same standoff-ish personality at first, we lacked common social norms for a work environment. For example, we ate lunch in our car every single day. And we didn’t see anything wrong with it… I mean why not? We were too shy to make friends and we didn’t want to be in the way. It only made sense.

Occasionally our coworkers would walk by, see us eating sandwiches from our packed lunches, and look at us like, “are those weird interns eating in their car again?”

Why yes, yes we were.

Our daily tasks included removing staples from files and scanning said files. That was about it. We also implemented a few tasks of our own such as, seeing who could chug water the fastest, who could spin in their chair the most times, and also who could plan their future wedding the best.

Upon returning home around 4, we had one hour to do our summer school work, go on a 10 minute jog, and eat a light snack before Tyeler’s mom Beth, would knock on our doors and announce, “girls, cocktails!”

And then we’d sit on the deck, sip our sea breezes by the sea, and talk about what we planned to do with our lives (and how annoying college boys were.) Tyeler was just starting to talk to a boy named Zach and I was daydreaming about getting my first boyfriend…

Her dad, John, counseled us on business and the importance of working for ourselves, where Beth tried to work with us on our social skills and being “less cold.” Both areas had room for improvement.

It was the summer I learned to social drink, that I didn’t want to study law, and also that I will someday have my own house by the water.

So ten years later, I invited myself and my mom out there for a ten year reunion.

We had drinks at the famous Del, rode bikes by the water, took a cocktail cruise on Good Times Beth (the boat), and drank Bloody Marys at the yacht club. Did I mention Coronado living is pretty damn good?

The summer I lived out there seems ages ago, and yet at the same time it blows my mind it’s already been ten years. In the years in-between so much has happened; moves all over the country, husbands, babies, new homes, bad jobs, good jobs, challenges, triumphs. Life has happened.

Whenever I’m given a chance to walk back in time like this I like to imagine myself whispering to that person I used to be everything that’s about to happen. And if it excites me, I know I’m on the right path. If it bothers me, I need to rethink some things.

Luckily, I think Coronado-me would be happy to know I finally found a boy I like, a job that doesn’t bore me,  I get to live in a city I love, and I have a wardrobe that no longer involves wearing Victoria Secret swimsuit cover-ups as “dresses.”

*also my sunglasses are Dior and were purchased at Sam’s Club in Omaha. They were VERY special to me*

Moral of the story: if you ever get the chance to live in Coronado for the summer, do not turn it down.