Sunday, 7. September 2008.
Waking up in friend's house and knowing there's nowhere to bike to today changes the whole pace of things. We're 15 minutes from Laguna Beach, so we decide to go to the beach. With towels in hands by noon we're down at the beach staring at some surfers trying to catch a wave sliding from a little sandy knoll. Some are quite good at it, so it's a pleasure to watch. We find a nice spot on the beach and get into the water right away. The water is not so cold and I guess this is my first real swim in the Pacific ever! I've tried to do it before, but it's always been too cold for swimming.
For a while we have fun with waves that push and shove and drag you around, and once we're
dry we go to a Mexican restaurant nearby.
The food is good and plenty, and the digestion is slow, so we don't do much in the afternoon. But in the evening we're after some food again, this time at a Thai restaurant near Pero's house.
Pero and Diana have been living in Aliso Viejo for 4 years now. Before that they were living in San Diego (where I visited as well) and before that Pero was attending Rice university in Houston for his PhD (and of course I paid him a visit there as well, back in 1996).
I've known Pero ever since I was 2 years old. Of course I don't remember meeting him that long ago, but apparently his mom has a video recording of us playing together at that tender age. What I do remember is going to the kindergarden with him from the age of 3 to the age of 6 and then to the elementary school until we were both 14.
At 14 we went to different highschools. He chose math, I chose chemistry, but even though our schools were different we kept hanging out all through those years.
At the age of 18 we both had to join the army for a year as the military service was mandatory at the time and once out of it he went to study in the Croatia's capital - Zagreb and I went to Rome, Italy.
Still, we'd hang out a lot when we were both in our birthtown and at one New year's Eve party he met his future wife - Diana. Of course he didn't know that then. What happened is that after that party I went out on a date with a girl, but to avoid the awkwardness she invited a friend and I invited a friend as well. You guess it; my friend was Pero and her friend was Diana. I dated that girl for several months and Pero and Diana started dating as well. A few years later, we both found ourselves at their wedding.
Soon after the wedding they moved to the US and have been living there ever since. And they're one of the very few married couples that I know that have been living their marriage happily. And while everyone around me seems to be getting divorced it's so refreshing to see someone sticking together for so long.