Luncheon

This month's Lunch Bunch was a lot of fun.  We met at Frieda's Tequilla & Taco bar where Robbie and I had lunch several weeks ago.  The atmosphere was incredibly nice with so many beautiful paintings on the wall.  I enjoyed all of the conversations at our table and appreciated the advice that I was given about restaurants to try in Ocala, books that the ladies were reading and movies that were coming to theaters.  Although, I haven't been as involved in CCW this year, I have done my best to be at the luncheons.  Fellowship was the number one thing that I was looking for when I moved to Florida.  I have definitely found it with this group of ladies.

Great News

Two days ago, Doug had a melanoma removed from the top of his scalp.  It was very close to the one he had last spring and although it wasn't as big as that one, I was more worried about it this time.  The plastic surgeon did nothing to relay my fears.  Thankfully, he got the news yesterday afternoon that the melanoma was stage zero and that they had gotten all of it.  This morning, we went back to the surgeon's office for her to check it and he was released to go back to work.

As much as I didn't care for the doctor's bedside manner, I was very happy with the end results of this year's Mohs procedure.  In the spring, Doug's wound was open for ten days and I had to take care of it.  That involved cleaning out the wound, putting medication on it every other day and rebandaging it daily.  It was awful for me and really frustrating for Doug.  This time, the whole process took two days as they put two loose sutures in it right after the procedure and I never had to clean anything.  Doug wore a hat for five days to help keep the bandage intact, but other than that, the whole process was extremely easy.  Hopefully, Doug is done with having melanomas removed, but if not, we will definitely be going back to the same plastic surgeon again.

Pokemon

When Cameron was here over Christmas break, he found all of his Pokémon cards while cleaning out his room.  He spent an afternoon sorting them and checking their value on eBay.  We were both surprised to find out what some of them were selling for on the website.  During his search, he realized that fourteen of the cards in his collection were actually worth something and decided that he wanted to try and sell them.  I was a little bit skeptical that he would get anything for them but offered to help if I could.

Cameron ordered protective sleeves for the most valuable cards, and we first stopped by a local store that advertised that they were a Pokémon trader.   Over the holidays they had switched to an appointment only retail shop and we both decided to forgo reaching out to them.  Instead, we agreed that I would try and put the cards up for auction at a later date when I had the time.  

A month went by and I still hadn't listed the cards on eBay.  January had been busy with IU football and Cameron's birthday.  Then I got involved with a few projects around the house that took up most of my time.  Finally, last night, I sat down and started looking at how to list the cards on the famed website.  It had been a while since we had sold anything of value, and I was impressed right away with how much eBay had changed.  All I had to do was take a picture of the individual cards and it created a listing for me.  It took me less than an hour to get all fourteen cards listed and had a few watchers by the time I went to bed.

This morning when I got up, we already had an offer on Cameron's most expensive card.  After a few rounds of negotiation, Cameron accepted $68 for Mew, and I shipped the card this afternoon.  I don't know if the rest of the cards will sell as easily, but just having a little bit of success has been well worth the time and effort put into this project.  It also makes me wonder what else we have sitting around the house that might be valuable.  Maybe that will be my next project.

Wishful Thinking That Rarely Works

When I was in seventh grade, our PE teacher told us that our personality was formed at thirteen and never changed.  Thankfully, I realized later in life that her "words of wisdom" made absolutely no sense, especially since a human brain isn't even done developing until a person is twenty-five.  To believe that one of the toughest times in a person's life would also be when their true personality was cemented would be absolutely crazy.  I was so insecure when I was in middle school, I am glad that I grew more confident and independent as I aged.  I honestly do not believe that my personality was fully formed until well after thirty-five.  

In saying that, however, one thing that I now believe is that a person shows who they truly are early in a relationship.  A man that screams and yells at his girlfriend, generally does not change once they get married.   A girlfriend that cheats doesn't usually stop because a ring is on her finger.  Thus, my advice would be, if you want someone to treat you well in a marriage, make sure they treat you well before your wedding day.

This same sentiment holds true for in-laws.  A mother-in-law that is intrusive will still be intrusive when you get married and will increase her boundary pushing once children enter the picture.  Father-in-laws who are sexist and degrading won't change just because of a signed marriage certificate.  Therefore, I would love for every young couple contemplating spending the rest of their life together to go on an engagement retreat, talk to a priest and/or therapist, ask tough questions of one another and most of all be realistic.  Life is hard.  Marrying someone hoping they will change or believing that you can fix them only makes life harder.

God's Plan

We had a new priest arrive at Blessed Trinity this past fall.  His name is Father Bill, and he has a unique path to the seminary as he was once married and had a daughter.  God called he and his family in a different direction, however, and he was ordained last spring.  

I thought a lot about Father Bill's life story this past week.  I couldn't relate to the call to the priesthood, but I definitely felt many times in my life that God's plan for me wasn't what I originally thought it would be.  In fact, I couldn't even count the number of times that my life's trajectory changed from what I thought it would be.  

No path was ever different than the one that we had when we moved to Ocala.  Our plan was for Doug to work ten minutes from our home with the goal of leaving when he finished his time at Champion, maybe moving further south or trying a whole new state.  God, however, led us to a church that we loved and a community that we felt at home in almost as soon as we moved.  He helped Doug to find a job that was not only less stressful but provided the income and the challenge that Doug was looking for in a career.  Even though it wasn't in the perfect location, He helped us navigate that as well.  It wasn't the path that we were planning for or even looking for, but through prayer we found a life that helped bring peace to our family.  We couldn't ask for more than that.  

Festival of the Arts

Doug and I went to the Festival of the Arts today and wow was it crowded.  We still had a lot of fun as we hadn't been to Disney since Thanksgiving.  Meg and Nick were able to meet us there for lunch which made it even better.  I believe that the large crowds were due to the beautiful weather.  It definitely has been a colder than a normal winter in Central Florida, so I believe the nice day was the reason for the holiday size crowds.

Even with the long lines, the four of us were still able to walk through the countries without any issue and look at all of the art booths.  There were a lot of Disney themed paintings, and several done by AI this year.  All were extremely cute, but none of us bought too much.  Meg did find the perfect gift for Maggie's birthday.  

The food at the festival was fantastic.  We tried several unique dishes with Doug really enjoying the mushroom risotto in Canada.  I liked the General Tso's dumplings from China the best.  We headed out after the festival as the ride lines were way too long.  Meg and Nick went to Magic Kingdom next while Doug and I stopped at Port Orleans French Quarter.  We had hoped to try their Valentine beignets.  Everyone else must have had that idea as there was at least one hundred people in line.  After seeing that, we decided that it would make way more sense to skip the Disney treat and stop at Publix for dessert.  I was glad that we did as it gave us time to watch IU's overtime win against Wisconsin making for a wonderful end to the day.  

The Winter Olympics

Doug was very excited that the Winter Olympics were starting tonight and really wanted to watch the opening ceremony.  That lasted about ten minutes as he didn't remember that it had really changed from when we were younger.  Although the Olympians still walked in together waving their country's flag, the majority of the night was filled with dancing and singing.  Doug definitely wasn't interested in that.

While Doug was talking about all of his favorite winter sports, such as bobsledding, curling and skiing, I was focused on finding out when speed skating would take place.  There were two women from Ocala participating in those events. Although it was hard to believe that Floridians would be very good at winter sports, each had won a medal in 2022, and I was hopeful to watch them win again.  Either way it will be fun to follow these next few weeks.