Today is my brother Wes’s birthday. I doubt that he planned to spend the day in the hospital. Yet I’m sure he’s OK with it given the circumstances. By all accounts so far, his kidney transplant has been successful. However, he’s far from “in the clear” and I know we’ll all feel much better as each day passes with less & less pain and more & more healing and physical restoration. We’ll just keep praying and hoping.

In the meantime, Wes, I have one, simple birthday wish for you. May the water in your bowl always be wet!

Karen and Wes in San Diego Last Month

Click here if you’d like to wish Wes a happy birthday (you’ll leave this site and go to coddingtontribe.com).

My brother, Wes, is in the operating room as I write this. He is getting a new kidney. Some of you will remember last year when Wes received a kidney from our younger brother, Steve. Despite being a perfect match and a living donor, that transplant failed a few days later.

We are praying that this time the transplant will be successful.

If you would like to follow along, Wes’s website is coddingtontribe.com. His twitter is @wescoddington.

Thank you for your prayers.

As many of you know, we’re considering a move to California this summer. I’m in San Diego for work this week and decided to stay where we’re looking to move so I could get a better feel for that specific area, the commute, etc.

While finding my way to church Sunday morning and driving around that same afternoon, I made a few small observations about the transportation system in Carlsbad, things that stood out to me as someone who’s lived in the DC area for more than ten years.

Observation # 1: Unless you’re talking about The 5 or other major highways, streets do not have numbers. They only have names.

Before I left my hotel, I got directions from Google. According to the map, I should go on Palomar Airport Rd and then turn onto County Highway S11.

With directions planted firmly in memory, I took off.

Ten minutes down Palomar Airport Rd, I knew I had missed the turn. County Highway S11 couldn’t possibly have been that far away based on the map. So I turned around and stopped at a 7-Eleven, which conveniently doubled as a coffee pit stop.

“Can you tell me how to get to County Highway S11?” I asked the clerk.

He had no idea.

Now…don’t go there. I know you did already but stop. Some 7-Eleven clerks actually do know where streets are and how to give directions! I haven’t met any of them but they must be out there!! They must.

Turns out, there is a County Highway S11 but it’s called El Camino Real.

Don't ask where County Route S11 is!

By the way, the 7-Eleven clerk told me he probably could give me directions if I knew the name of the street.

Observation # 2: You can drive really fast on “residential” streets. The speed limit on the main four-lane street that runs through our Maryland neighborhood is 30 mph.

Drivin' 55 on County Highway S11...er, El Camino Real. Notice the houses on the other side of that fence?

Observation # 3: There are lots and lots of traffic lights! And they can stay red for a really long time. It’s an odd juxtaposition with observation # 2.

Too Many Red Lights! (courtesy of Nataraj Metz via flickr; creative commons)

Observation # 4: Most of the streets have sidewalks. But even streets that lack sidewalks seem to have bike lanes.

As an added bonus, you can actually turn right at red lights because there is enough room!

Next month, we’re going to visit San Diego as a family. I bet we’ll come up with a few more observations so stay tuned.