Back in May, before attending World Tea Expo in Long Beach, I did a brief stint with family in San Diego. I set aside three days during that trip for no agenda whatsoever. My only plan was to stay with my dad and stepmother. Everything else was up in the air.

During dinner, though, my stepmother did ask me if there was anything in particular I did want to accomplish. I replied, “I kinda want to see Auntie Rhonda.”

Rhonda was my stepmother’s sister. I hadn’t seen her in . . . wow, I think it’d been nearly a decade. And nearly two decades since I’d visited their home in Temecula – aptly named “The Rhondarosa”. I forgot why it was called that; I know they told me, but I spaced it. I think it was because it was a ranch-style house. In the middle of SoCal wine country. But I’m getting off-topic . . .