Goin' Out To Cally – Part 45, Cashing In On Immortality

After the long and nauseous drive up the Pacific Coast Highway, we arrived in the great city of San Francisco around dinner time. It was hard to appreciate the city for all of its beauty and landmarks because we could only see the street lights and buildings illuminating the night sky. For us, having been on the road twelve nights, it looked like just another city on our long trek.

Unfortunately, during the course of this trip, from the moment we had to try and get all of Sunday’s luggage into the back of the Acura to the infinite waiting on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, tensions between the four travelers had been building everyday. As with the tides when a tropical storm approaches, the waves of tension on this trip would ebb and flow, but never completely dissipated. Instead, each day the tension from one day would build upon the next, like a storm surge of frustration and irritation ready to crash on the shore. And like an approaching hurricane, there was little I could do to get out of its destructive path.

When we reached the hotel we were surprised to find it was relatively close to the Hard Rock Café in San Francisco. After a quick check in and a quicker unpacking, we headed off to San Fran’s version of the famed restaurant chain.

As we sat down at our table, I spied more musical memorabilia on the walls and display cases and I realized at that moment that one of the drivers for me to get into acting and filmmaking was because I, like the previous owners of the collectibles that surrounded our table, wanted a certain level of immortality on this planet. For them it was music. For me, it was movies.

Movies last forever. If you have a great performance or write a great scene or direct a memorable film, that performance, that scene, that movie is on the public record forever. And your name is attached to it. Just as I rediscover works of Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn decades later, so too could others of your work if you were so lucky. Through that rediscovery lies a taste of immortality.

I wondered to myself if I would ever have anything worth being shown in a display case along with other giants in the entertainment industry. At once my exuberant youthful hope made it seem completely within the realm of possibility and yet the insecurity of not quite knowing what would make me so special as to be able to earn such an honor battled within my psyche.

In the end, I realized that my growing and evolving faith would play a pivotal role. I knew that if I were to achieve any greatness, that it would take powers greater than my own to reach such a level of achievement. I had a strong faith in the Lord and would put my career aspirations in his hands.

As our dinner neared completion I looked into my wallet and discovered I was almost out of money. Tim and I had an agreement that I would pay my portion of whatever hotel room and food charges he put on his credit cards on the trip. So, I didn’t need a lot of cash to make the journey, but what little cash I had was quickly diminishing.

Sunday, it appeared, was in the same boat as me. During out entire journey she was equally frugal in her financial decisions.

When it came time to pay our food bill, Tim’s credit card was declined. The waiter asked, “Are you staying at a hotel?”

“Yes.” Tim replied.

“That explains it. When you register with a credit card they max it out to make sure you can pay for whatever charges you acquire during your stay,” the waiter explained.

Well, that was both helpful and troublesome. It explained the credit card issue, but didn’t explain how we were going to pay for the meal. I reached into my thin, light wallet ready to pitch in when Sunday opened up her purse and pulled out a large wad of cash.

Tim, Beth and I stared in disbelief. “Here. I don’t know what I owe you for the trip, but this should cover it,” Sunday said as she offered over all of her money.

“You don’t have to give us everything,” Beth said.

“It’s okay,” Sunday replied, “I still have some.”

Tim and Beth reluctantly took the cash and paid the bill.

As we drove back to the hotel I thought of how hard it would have been for me to have all of that money on hand for the entire trip and NOT spend it! That concept just seemed impossible to me at the time. I envied her financial control. If I had that much cash on me I would have been buying everything from Bedrock City t-shirts to Mickey Mouse ears.

And it reminded me that just when I think I’ve gotten Sunday figured out, she always has one more surprise up her sleeve.

And so ended the thirteenth night on our trip to Cally.

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Part 45, (Text, Audio) - Part 44, (Text, Audio) - Part 43, (Text, Audio)
Part 42, (Text, Audio) - Part 41, (Text, Audio) Part 40, (Text, Audio)
Part 39, (Text, Audio) - Part 38, (Text, Audio) - Part 37, (Text, Audio)
Part 36, (Text, Audio) - Part 35, (Text, Audio) - Part 34, (Text, Audio)
Part 33, (Text, Audio) - Part 32, (Text, Audio) - Part 31, (Text, Audio)
Part 30, (Text, Audio) - Part 29, (Text, Audio) - Part 28, (Text, Audio)
Part 27, (Text, Audio) - Part 26, (Text, Audio) - Part 25, (Text, Audio)
Part 24, (Text, Audio) - Part 23, (Text, Audio) - Part 22, (Text, Audio)
Part 21, (Text, Audio) - Part 20, (Text, Audio) - Part 19, (Text, Audio)
Part 18, (Text, Audio) - Part 17, (Text, Audio) - Part 16, (Text, Audio)
Part 15, (Text, Audio) - Part 14, (Text, Audio) - Part 13, (Text, Audio)
Part 12 (Text, Audio) - Part 11 (Text, Audio) - Part 10 (Text, Audio)
Part 09, (Text, Audio) - Part 08, (Text, Audio) - Part 07 (Text, Audio)
Part 06 (Text, Audio) - Part 05 (Text, Audio) - Part 04 (Text, Audio)
Part 03 (Text, Audio) - Part 02 (Text, Audio) - Part 01 (Text, Audio)