The Positives of Fellowship

I wasn't quite sure why I wanted to join CCW when I went to my first meeting a year and a half ago.  It may have been because I had read about the group in the church bulletin and thought that it might be a nice way to meet people from our new church and also help me find avenues to strengthening my faith.  I was a little bit surprised that I had even gone to a meeting as I had decided when I moved to Florida that I wasn't interested in meeting anyone new.  I had loved my friend group that I taught with in Milford, and I believed that was enough for me.  The first CCW meeting went well, however, and I decided to go back.  Soon I was looking forward to the monthly meetings and even signed up to volunteer in the gift shop.  It was nice to feel like I was helping and gave me something social to do outside of the house.  

When I got a call from one of the longtime members asking me if I would be interested in running for office, I declined.  I had enjoyed being a part of the group but wasn't looking for a commitment.  They called again and asked if this time I would think about being on the ballot for treasurer so they would at least have a second person running in that position.  I knew that I had the experience for the office as I had been both the treasurer for the Syracuse PTO and the Library Board, but wasn't really wanting the position, especially since several other women were a lot more interested. I went ahead and said yes and when I found out that I had won, I was a little bit overwhelmed.  The position seemed to be more work that I had expected.  I have done my best to make it work this year, and although I don't love it, I do believe that I have done a good job with it and have made the transition to a shared account with the church as positive as possible.

I have quickly learned that the best part about being on the executive board hasn't been the actual treasurer position, but the other parts of the job.  By being on the board, I have been able to volunteer for additional roles in the group and have gotten to know a lot more members.  I have gone to lunch on my own with them, had conversations with them at church, and have enjoyed seeing friendly faces at mass.  During the past few months, I have also helped to start a luncheon group that provides fellowship for women outside of our meetings.  We held one yesterday at a new restaurant in Ocala Palms, and I enjoyed it very much.  Today, I even went to a funeral mass for a woman's husband that I had met through CCW.  She was instrumental in encouraging me to attend Bible study, and I appreciated that very much.  It was amazing to see all of the other women in CCW at the funeral as well.  As I drove home from the mass, I thought about how wrong I had been when I moved here.  Finding fellowship wasn't about giving up the friends that I had, but enhancing my life here instead. 

A Turn of Events

Two weeks ago, we had all but given up on IU men’s basketball season. The team had lost six out of seven of its games, including two that were absolute blowouts. Mike Woodson had announced his retirement at the end of the season, and pretty much no one thought we had a chance to make it into the NCAA tournament. My dad was even worried that we wouldn’t make the Big Ten tournament as the bottom three teams were left out of it this year.

All of that started to change this past Sunday. While we were enjoying our day at Epcot with Brett, IU was playing against Purdue. I told Cameron that I thought it was interesting that the last time I was at Epcot they also played Purdue. It was a close game then, and I really hoped that we would win this time, but didn’t have much faith this time. Even though he was going to the game and that I might see him in the crowd, I decided that I wasn’t going to watch it while we were enjoying the art festival. I did turn it on towards the end of the first half and believed that I had made the right decision when I saw that we were down by 12 points.

Imagine my surprise when a few art booths later I turned the game back on halfway through the second half to see that we were up by 11 points. I didn’t know what had happened as I missed the first 10 minutes, but I was happy to see the turnaround. I was still a little bit pessimistic about our chances, but Doug and I decided to go ahead and watch the second half when we went back to the room to rest. I was glad that we did as neither of us could believe how well IU played as they steamrolled Purdue and easily won by double digits.

Because of their decisive win against the Boilermakers and their victory over Michigan State not too long ago, the media actually started to talk about us as a bubble team. Once Cal said that he was getting sucked back in, I thought I would join him. I hate getting my heart broken, and IU basketball has done that a lot lately, but in the end, I knew that I didn't really have a lot to lose except more anguish.  

I talked to both Cameron and Cal a lot this week about IU basketball. I knew for us to keep our March madness dreams alive that we had to win at home against Penn State on Wednesday night. It would be a tall order after coming off such a big high on Sunday, plus Penn State would be gunning for us as we had humiliated them the last time we played. I wasn't sure that I could handle a loss but decided to watch the game anyway.  I definitely got extremely nervous when the game started, especially after realizing that one of our star players was out with the flu. The first three-fourths of the game was intense which only added to the stress. We missed a lot of free throws and Penn State played very well. 

I didn't give up hope, however, even when the score favored the Nittany Lions with only eight minutes left in the game. I really believed that it would start to turn our way.  That was when some of the IU students began heckling their star player. I was glad to hear that Cameron didn’t join in the obscenities being yelled, but I did understand from talking to him that Ace Baldwin may have brought it on himself by taunting the crowd first. Either way, it seemed to hype up the entire crowd, as well as the players.  It may have even led to one fan being objected, which was probably the most surprising part of the game, especially since he was sitting in the front row and looked older than both Doug and I. 

Shortly after those events, one of our guards got really hot with about five minutes left and hit two threes in a row giving us a five-point lead. I hoped it would be smooth sailing on the way out, but it was back-and-forth to the very end. Thankfully, the Hoosiers held on to win, keeping their tournament dreams alive. I talked to Cameron today and listened to his thoughts on the game. I asked him if he appreciated just how fortunate he was to be going to IU and being on SAB during a time that the excitement around basketball and football was at an all-time high. He definitely did and said that it had made his sophomore year in college one of the most memorable ones in his life. I don’t know what will happen on Saturday when we play Washington, but if we can win there, we may just get out of the bubble. Either way it has been a fun couple of weeks in a season that I had completely given up hope on salvaging.

Paying Off Meg's Loan

When Trump took over office in January, he instantly started to make changes policies in the federal government.  Some of those were extremely worrisome as he cut thousands of National Park rangers' jobs and others were absurd as he signed a proclamation to stop the plastic straw initiative. The talk for supporting his policies and on the flip side, denouncing them, were all over social media.  I tried not to follow the discussion as I knew it would only make me anxious.  Just knowing that Elon Musk was a large part of his plan for a government overhaul scared me.  I didn't need to listen to much more.  

The one topic that kept coming up, however, was Trump's plan to eliminate the Federal Department of Education.  Unlike most of the news media, I realized that this wouldn't mean that all public schools would close, but I did understand that the hope of the college loan forgiveness program that Biden tried to launch four years had been completely dashed at this year's inauguration.  That reality, coupled with the craziness of the new policies, encouraged me to begin to look at paying off Meg's loans ourselves.  The current plan of putting a $100 a month on the debt would mean that it would take ten years to completely pay them off.  The interest rates weren't high, but we would spend an extra $3000 on the life of the loan.  That seemed like a lot to me as the original loans were only $10,000 to start.

After going through all of our long-term finances with Doug in January, I was able to show him that we now had the funds to pay off Meg's loan in full.  It would also eliminate the concern that Meg would be left to pay off the loan herself if something happened to both Doug and I as it was technically her college debt.  After looking at everything, we agreed that there was money available to bring the debt down to zero by the first of March.  The good news was that we would also be able to add money to both of our retirement accounts, put a little bit extra on our mortgage and still have enough left in the budget to pay for new kitchen countertops without touching our savings.  Thus, at the beginning of this month, I paid off Meg's smallest loan since it had the highest interest rate.  All went well with that payment, so last week I paid off the second one. 

Making that payment was an awesome feeling as we were finally done with Meg's college expenses.  I know that all of our children have appreciated our commitment to pay for their education.  It is the best way for us to help them pave their way toward a stable financial future.  Most of all, I am extremely proud of Doug and I for doing this without any help from anyone else.  We had been given some empty promises of assistance when Brett was a freshman.  I am incredibly glad that we didn't sit around and wait on that as the help never came.  I also couldn't be prouder of our family for making sacrifices and working hard to make everyone's future secure.  

Suds Galore

I woke up this morning and found this picture on our camera roll.  I was positive that it was taken by Cameron.  They had been having water issues in their utility room, so I just assumed that the dishwasher mess had something to do with that.  I wasn't going to say much to Cameron about it but decided to ask him when he called this afternoon.  I was really glad that I did as the story behind it was a lot funnier than I was expecting.

Cameron told me that he had stopped running the dishwasher in his house, because he didn't think that it cleaned the dishes very well.  He either handwashed them or let one of his roommates run the dishwasher.  Last night, he decided to go ahead and give it another try.  Pretty soon all of his roommates were knocking on his door wanting to know if he was the one that started the sudsy appliance.  He ran downstairs and was shocked to see all of the soap bubbling out on the kitchen floor.  They couldn't figure out what had happened until someone realized that Cameron had put dish soap in the dishwasher instead of dish detergent, thus creating the soapy mess.  It took Cameron some time to clean it all up, but finally with the help of the sprayer on the sink faucet, he got all of the bubbles to go down the drain.

I asked Cameron what he was thinking when he ran the dishwasher.  I knew that he and I had talked about using dish detergent and I had been on the phone with him before when he had run it.  I couldn't figure out what had happened until he said that one of his roommates had bought liquid dishwasher detergent and he didn't take the time to read the label on the bottle that he used.  I couldn't stop laughing after he told me that.  We both agreed that sometimes Cameron's lack of "street smarts" puts him in some humorous situations.  Thankfully, it was his college apartment dishwasher that took the brunt of a life lesson that Cameron will never forget.  

Hollywood Studios in the Rain

One nice thing about moving to Florida is that I have grown accustomed to the rain.  Because of this, I didn't get upset when I saw the forecast for today - 60s and rain showers.  I knew that I had ponchos and umbrellas in the car, and a change of clothes and shoes in the suitcase.  I did give Brett a few alternative activities if he didn't want to go to Hollywood Studios in the rain, but wasn't surprised when he said that the rain didn't bother him at all.

Overall, we had so much fun today that I didn't really notice the weather.  We made it on all of our favorite rides with the only long wait at Twilight Tower of Terror.  I got a little cold in line for that one and on Slinky Dog Dash, but nothing that hindered our day.  As we only had six hours in the park and wanted to see The Muppet Show and do a little shopping as well, we decided to make snacks our meal of the day.  Brett and I had Coca-Cola glazed cinnamon rolls for breakfast and Mickey pretzels for lunch.  I added in a cookie and Brett picked popcorn for his additional snack.  I didn't buy anything today, but Brett was able to get a cute water bottle for Karen, a gift for Andrew's son's birthday and a new phone case.  I loved that he stuck with the Muppets theme especially since we had enjoyed the show today and he was wearing his Kermit shirt as well.  

We left a little bit early from the park so that we could rearrange Brett's suitcases to fit everything in and protect the fragile items that he was taking back.  That took longer than I thought it would, but we still made it to the airport in plenty of time for Brett to check his bag, grab dinner and make it to his gate on time.  I was sad to say goodbye this afternoon but was incredibly thankful that we had spent so much time this weekend celebrating Brett.  

Festival of the Arts

We were all up early for our trip to Disney World today.  Doug drove separately from Brett and I, so that he could have his car for work tomorrow.  Brett and I beat him to the Yacht Club by a few minutes, and all of us were happy to see that our room was ready well before 11 a.m.  We unpacked, regrouped and then headed to Epcot for the Festival of the Arts.  Brett had picked it as his 30th birthday present and we were very excited to spend the day touring the countries, trying the different festival foods, perusing the artwork and riding a few rides.  

Brett had never been to Epcot for this particular festival, and I knew that he would absolutely love it.  I was glad to see that I was correct.  Brett stopped at every single art booth, looking at all of the different paintings and sculptures.  He also got to try several of their food offerings and a few of their drink specialties.  We didn't make it on every ride today, but did get on a few of our favorites including Remy, Soarin' and Spaceship Earth.  Brett was happy that I got him a pass to ride Guardians as well.  I would have loved to go with him, but that one causes instant motion sickness for me.  Before we left for the evening, Brett found a fun Gaston print to take home and I finally purchased a cute one of all of the Mickey Mouse characters on the Jungle Cruise ride.

While Brett was riding Guardians, Doug and I hung out at the Yacht Club.  We were very impressed with the hotel.  We loved the amenities and enjoyed all of the beautiful views but still preferred The Boardwalk the best out of all of the Disney hotels that we had ever stayed.  Brett arrived shortly after we returned to our room.  We were all thankful for the short walk back from Epcot.  Doug was the first to crash with Brett following close behind a short time later.  I couldn't blame them as we were absolutely exhausted from our wonderful day celebrating Brett's 30th birthday.  

  

Gainesville Never Disappoints

While Brett was here, we wanted to make time to go to Gainesville if at all possible.  He had been to Relish, the University of Florida and had seen the home of Tom Petty before but had never visited Swamp Head, and we really wanted him to experience our new favorite brewery.  I had found out earlier in the month that his visit would coincide with their 17th anniversary, so we all decided to make it a priority and invited Uncle Phil to join us.

From past experience, we knew that "Swamp Fest" would be busy with limited parking.  Thus, we left early and were one of the first groups to arrive.  I felt a little silly as they were still setting up, but in the end, we were all very happy as we got a great seat and a close parking spot in the main lot.  Brett liked the brewery very much.  He tried several of their offerings and bought a four pack of their newest brew to take home for he and Andrew to share. That wasn't his only souvenir, and he ended up with a nice mug commemorating the event.  The best part wasn't the beer, however. It was sharing something with Brett that we had come to love and finding out that he enjoyed it just as much as we did.

We dropped Phil off at home after Swamp Fest and headed to Mellow Mushroom for lunch.  It was the one restaurant that Brett hadn't gotten to on his last visit and was a priority for this one.  The food was delicious, and afterward we all enjoyed a walk to Grandpa Joe's before leaving downtown.  Our next stop was Blessed Trinity for mass.  The homily was on point with great advice for loving one's enemies, something that we all agreed was a lot easier said than done.  We all appreciated the reminder and talked about mass most of the way home.  The three of us then stayed in the rest of the evening listening to music, playing Ticket to Ride and watching some of our favorite television moments.  It was nice to have such a relaxing evening after an incredibly busy day.  

A Bonus Day

When I invited Brett down to celebrate his 30th birthday this month, we went through all of the dates that worked for the three of us and chose this weekend.  As our main activity was going to the Epcot Festival of the Arts, I quickly booked a hotel for us for Sunday night and then Brett picked out his flight schedule to coincided with the plans.  When I went to purchase Brett's Disney tickets, I realized that because of a special that they were running, it was actually cheaper to buy a three-day park pass instead of a two.  Because of the non-Disney plans that we had already made, I thought that we would only use the two days but was alright with that since it was still more economical to have the three-day ticket even if we didn't use it all.  After talking to Brett and Doug, we realized that Brett and I would have time to use it if we planned a short day for lunch at Magic Kingdom.  He was more than ready to do that, and I was looking forward to hanging out at one of our favorite places for a few hours. 

Doug offered to pick Brett up for me last night, since I had a CCW meeting and he would be close to the airport.  I appreciated that and assumed that they would drive back, order pizza and I would meet them here.  It dawned on the both of us this week that it might make more sense for them to stay in Orlando, so Doug would have a short drive to work, and Brett would be close to Magic Kingdom in the morning.  I wasn't sure when I would be able to meet them but decided to book a hotel and figure that out later.  To my surprise, there was a Spark by Hilton halfway in between S.I. Goldman and Disney that was only a $108.  I booked it right away and we were all amazed by how nice it was for the cost.

Doug left this morning for work before we were ready to go to Magic Kingdom.  He enjoyed the relatively short drive, and we appreciated being able to almost make rope drop this morning.  Due to our plans tonight, Brett and I knew that we only had five hours at the park and decided to just enjoy anything and everything that we could get done.  Peter Pan had a relatively short wait compared to normal, so we went straight there after watching the Dapper Dans drive by singing to all of the guests.  Both of us had fun in the interactive queue and loved the ride as always.  From there, we headed to the new Country Bear Jamboree since Brett had not seen it yet.  Pirates of the Caribbean was next on the agenda before ordering lunch at Pinocchio Haus where we were able to grab a highly sought after table overlooking the Small World ride. Before our time was up, we were also able to catch Haunted Mansion and The Little Mermaid rides ending a fantastic day at Magic Kingdom.

Our trip home was an easy one with only one accident slowing us down.  Meg called to check in with us and Brett and I were able to finish his RSVP list for the wedding while catching up on political news.  We pulled into the driveway a few minutes before Doug ready for our night out in Ocala with dinner at Crazy Cucumber and a game of Catan with Uncle Phil.

Letting the Good Out Way the Bad

Some days bad things happen that are pretty hard to overlook.  Today was one of those, and I worked very hard not to let the bad overshadow all of the good that happened.  One person tried to ruin the happiness that I was feeling by bullying her way into my life.  For the first time in a long time, I didn't let that happen.  Instead, I focused on everything that was positive going on in my life.  It helped that both Robbi and Meg were available to listen to how I felt including why I was tired of the negativity that one person was causing.  I also knew that I had the backing of someone that believed that I was doing the best that I could for the group that I had come to really enjoy.  So instead of being upset or crying, I focused on all the wonderful things that I had going on today.  

First, I was absolutely ecstatic that the new stove I ordered last week was delivered this morning.  Even the delivery guys were impressed that we still had the original stove that was installed in our home twenty-one years ago.  The new one looked awesome in our home and reminded me that soon we would have an updated kitchen for a lot less than either Doug or I thought it would cost.  Second, I was able to complete everything on my list today before I left for my meeting at the church.  I cleaned the bathrooms, went grocery shopping, got gas, stopped at the bank and packed for tomorrow.  I even had time to pick up a few refills for my Yankee Candle plug-ins at the mall.  

Tonight, my meeting went very well even though I thought one person treated me poorly.  I had worked very hard this week to remedy a tough situation and felt that that wasn't appreciated by all.  Thankfully, I didn't let that bother me and really enjoyed the fellowship that I found tonight and the positive comments that I received from many in the group.  The best part of all of the day, however, happened after my meeting.  I met Doug and Brett in Orlando to start Brett's 30th birthday celebration.  Doug had picked him up at the airport and they had enjoyed dinner at Rock N Brews before I got there.  I appreciated the soft pretzel that they brought me and had a lot of fun with the two of them before turning in for the evening. 

Overall, I was incredibly proud of myself tonight for not letting the negativity of today ruin all of the good that happened.  It was challenging to do so, but I was so glad that I did.  It made all of the difference and helped me to enjoy this evening very much.  

Cabrini

Brett pre-ordered me the movie "Cabrini" for Mother's Day last spring.  I was excited to see it as I hadn't been able to catch it when it was in movie theaters.  It took a while to come in, but last fall he was finally able to give me the physical copy of the movie.  Because I had been watching the series, Chicago Fire, I decided to wait until I finished that to start Cabrini.  Last week, I looked at the place I had stored the film on my television stand and realized that it was missing.  I looked through the house, not believing that I had misplaced it as that was very unusual for me.  I had almost given up when it dawned on me that I might have put it away with the Christmas movies when I took down the holiday decorations.  I decided today that the only way to find out was to pull the tubs out of Doug's closet and look for it. After moving one Christmas Hippo, a Santa pig and five heavy tubs, I finally found it in the last one in the back corner.  I was incredibly happy and started the movie right away.

The reason that I really wanted to watch Cabrini wasn't just because Brett gave it to me.  I knew that one of the worst parts of Chicago when Doug lived there in the early 1990s was called Cabrini Green. It was notorious for gang violence, drugs and run-down tenements.  I had never forgotten the story of how Doug had gotten lost there one night on a way to a pick-up basketball game and a Good Samaritan found him and directed him to the church where he was meeting his group.  Although that entire area had now been renovated, I hoped by watching the movie, I would understand why an infamous part of the Windy City's history was named after a canonized nun.

I thought that it would take me several days to finish the movie, but once I started it, I couldn't stop watching.  The film begins in Italy with Mother Cabrini wanting to start an empire of orphanages in China.  The pope refused her request multiple times until he finally agreed to meet with her and listen to what she wanted to do in person.  After hearing her pleas, he consented to support her mission with one stipulation - she starts in New York with the Italian immigrants.  

The film moved fast from that point on and the plight of the people that she was chosen to help was depicted very well on the screen.  There were a lot of intense moments and several heart touching ones as well.  I learned a lot about the strength of character that Mother Cabrini had even though she struggled with poor health throughout her life.  Overall, it was a fantastic movie that I believe that everyone would enjoy.

Cignetti Talks

Tonight, Cameron had tickets to see Coach Cignetti talk at the IU Auditorium.  Instead of a speech, it was set up as a question-and-answer session with the students.  Cameron was really looking forward to it and I know from his reaction afterward, he really enjoyed it.  I wasn't surprised as he had been an IU football fan for as long as I could remember and thought that Cignetti was one of the best if not the best coach in college football.  Cameron especially enjoyed the coach's confidence and his plan for the program's future.  

While Cameron was talking about his night, I instantly thought back to the days when Coach Knight did this while I was at IU.  Knight was bigger than life when I was a student.  The talks made a huge impression on me, and I remembered them vividly as basketball was such an important part of my IU experience. I was glad that Cameron got to feel the same excitement that I did over thirty years ago.  He also told me that no other IU coach had done a student talk since that time period.  Thus, I was extremely happy that Cameron got to be a part of something special even if it was a different sport.  

Jeopardy Tournament of Champions

Last summer when I stayed at my parents for three weeks, my dad, Cameron and I watched a lot of episodes Jeopardy.  I had been playing Jeopardy against my dad since I was in high school, so I loved it that Cal and Cameron had carried on the tradition.  This summer there were some very memorable champions, one from West Lafayette who won a lot of money, another one who was also a veteran of Survivor and a third who was extremely charismatic and a little bit eccentric.  We all really enjoyed it.

When I saw that the Tournament of Champions was on while my dad was staying with us this winter, I suggested that we watch it.  I was even more excited about it when I saw that all three of our favorites from the summer were semi-finalists this year.  My dad and I didn't get to watch every episode before he left, but I was able to finally finish it up today.  I was sad to see that all three of my favorites would not be in the final Jeopardy rounds when Drew lost his semifinal round but was glad that I would still be able to cheer for Adrienna and Isaac.  It took six exciting rounds to crown a champion, and even though it wasn't one of the two that I was cheering for, I did have a lot of fun watching the tournament.  The best part was that on the very last day, they showed the exhibition match between Drew, Adrienna and Isaac.  It was only for practice, but I thought it was the best game of the season.  I probably will take a break from Jeopardy for a while since I have no one to play against, but it sure was fun watching it this past year.

SNL 50th Anniversary

Doug and I enjoyed our hotel stay last night.  It was at a Hilton in Port St. Lucie.  There was a PGA course surrounding it and a lot of golfers at the hotel as well.  We were able to get a drink at the bar before heading to the room.  On our way home this morning, we had fun catching up with all of our children.  Each one shared their Valentine's celebrations with us.  Brett spent yesterday in New Albany with Karen where they not only celebrated Valentine's Day but his birthday as well.  Cal took Maggie to an Italian restaurant, and I was pretty sure that he was only joking that they had side salads and tap water since he was paying.  Nick had to fly on Friday, so he and Meg celebrated yesterday with a delicious homemade dinner and a strawberry cake that Meg said was fantastic.  Since Cameron and Cora were attending the IU game on Friday night, they shared a Valentine's Day lunch together.  She had never been to Dat's, so he decided that would be the perfect place to go and they both liked their meals very much.  Cora also liked her homemade smoothie, and they had a lot of fun making a cheesecake together.  Doug and I not only had time to talk to everyone before we made it back home, we also were able to stop at Portillo's in Orlando for lunch.  I hadn't been in quite some time and was very glad that Doug had suggested it.

Tonight, Doug and I set aside time to watch the SNL 50th anniversary show.  There had been a lot of hype surrounding the program especially on talk radio and we couldn't wait to see it.  Although I enjoyed it, it wasn't quite what I thought that it would be.  There were a lot of old cast members in attendance, but the skits were mostly based on new material and weren't that funny to me.  I did really like the Black Jeopardy sketch and the 50th anniversary tribute song by Adam Sandler, but a lot of the other parts just weren't that great or were way too long in my opinion.  Even so, Doug and I were both glad that we had watched it.  It was a nice walk down memory lane as we both remembered all of the years that we spent our Saturday nights watching our favorite comics.  It was also a great way to end an awesome Valentine's weekend.

Palm Beach

Several months ago, my Aunt Jan texted me to let me know that she would be staying in Palm Beach this weekend and that Jackie and Jeannette's families would be visiting her there.  As I knew that it wouldn't really work to take my parents to see Aunt Jan earlier in the month while they were in Ft. Lauderdale, I thought this would be the perfect time for Doug and I to take a road trip.  We would not only be able to visit my family, but we would also get to see a part of Florida that we had never visited.  Even though it was only a little over three hours from our home, we decided to make a mini-vacation and stay overnight while we were traveling.

For a little while this morning, I started to regret that I had suggested the trip.  There was an accident on the turnpike that added a half hour to our trip and the traffic close to Palm Beach added another one.  Because of the delay, our lunch plans quickly changed to finding a place to grab a sandwich somewhere along the way.  Even that got stressful as there was nowhere easy to stop and the only toll plaza along the way was completely packed with not one parking space open.  

Thankfully, once we arrived in Palm Beach, the trip got a lot better.  We found a KFC with a drive thru for a late lunch and we got to the Henry Flagler Museum with enough time to tour the mansion.  We absolutely loved it.  We learned a lot about Flagler and his role in developing tourism from St. Augustine through Key West and enjoyed looking at the extravagance of the gilded age.  The older that I have gotten, the more I can see the waste of that time period, but it definitely was a beautiful home, and I was glad that his granddaughter had preserved that time in history.

Doug and I met Aunt Jan at her hotel after our tour.  She had just checked-in, and Uncle Lee was laying down.  It sounded like he may have picked up a bug while at their last stop.  We were sorry to hear that but had fun visiting with her while waiting for Jackie and Jeannette's families to arrive.  It was so nice to see everyone.  They were happy to be done traveling and everyone was looking forward to a week on the beach.  We hung out with the Barnhart family for the next four hours, eating dinner and catching up.  We were excited to hear about Evan's thoughts on going to IU next fall, and I was glad to have given Anna her Valentine's Day gift in person.  I always have fun with Joshua and Benjamin.  They were definitely ready to eat dinner, look for lizards and hop in the pool.  Overall, it was a wonderful time in Palm Beach, and I was extremely thankful that we were able to visit my family.  I don't know how much I will be in Syracuse this summer with Cameron going to Greece, Meg moving to Orlando and Brett's wedding, so it meant a lot to me that they were able to keep some time open on their vacation to visit with us.  

Valentine's Day

Today was one of the most low-key Valentines that we have had in our 30+ years together. That didn’t mean that it wasn’t a great one, however. Doug had to work, but once we got home, we both enjoyed the night very much. We met at MVB Appliance to pick out a new stove and microwave so that we could move forward with our kitchen project. Afterward, we debated about going to dinner but decided that we didn’t want to fight the crowds and went home to enjoy Doug’s homemade fire-roasted, turkey sausage spaghetti sauce with linguine. Dessert was Valentine's cookies from Crumbl, Doug's favorite bakery in Ocala.

While Doug was making dinner, my sofa table arrived, and I started putting it together right away. It fit perfectly in our home and made the living room look complete.  Our entertainment for the evening was The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly soundtrack on vinyl that I gave to Doug for Valentines, followed by a very close IU versus UCLA basketball game. Unfortunately, the Hoosiers lost once again, but we didn’t let that ruin the night. We had learned over the last 30 years that Valentine’s Day wasn’t about being extra extravagant but instead about enjoying each other’s company. That was exactly what we did this evening.