The Villages

When I was home in November, I ran into a teacher friend of mine.  Her daughter was always one of my favorite students and I was glad to see her as well.  While we were talking, she asked me about life in Florida.  She knew exactly where Ocala was as her husband spent a lot of time in The Villages for work.  The next thing that she said completely took me off guard, "Did you know that The Villages was the VD capital of the world?"  I had never heard that and was completely shocked that STDs were a problem in the retirement communities.   I asked Cal and Doug about it later.  They both laughed and said that they had been told that by multiple people.  

Ever since I heard that story, I had thought of The Villages in a different manner.  Whenever we drove under the boardwalk sign, I felt strange.  Thus, when my Dad said that he would need a ride to play golf with a friend in The Villages, I jokingly suggested a hazmat suit.  

Today, mom, dad and I left for the Continental Golf Club in Wildwood just past the infamous town.  I had only been to The Villages one other time and I had been less than impressed.  Their center circle area was crowded and had a party atmosphere with more golf carts than I had ever seen.  Mom and I returned to the same place after we dropped off my dad at the course.  It wasn't quite as crowded, but it was still hard to find a parking place.  We had lunch at McAlister's and decided not to explore the shops nearby.  Most were geared for senior citizens - golf carts, hearing aids, etc.  

After lunch we drove straight to Hobby Lobby.  My mom had not been in one in years and was impressed with the store, especially their home decorations.  I was looking for lawn ornaments and seriously thought about buying a five foot tall flamingo.  Instead I got a couple of small ones for my bathroom.  I decided that my entire house didn't need to be decorated with flamingos.  Our next shopping stop was Bealls.  I was skeptical that I'd find anything there, but thankfully was wrong.  Not only did I find a cute gnome and sea turtle for the rocks in our front yard, I also scored a pair of shorts and a shirt on clearance.  As excited as I was about my purchases, my mom had the best find of the day when she got a dress for Meg's wedding.  Meg and I loved it.  

We made one more stop at Home Goods before picking my dad up at 5 p.m.  We were happy to hear that he had enjoyed the course and had played well.  He was equally glad that Grandma found a dress.  The best part was that we all survived our trip to The Villages without catching any communicable disease.