A glimpse of last year

Come with me as I take you down memory lane and recapitulate the year that had just gone by. It's been an interesting year for us since the onset, we can never complain. There were surely misadventures but thankfully misadventures are still considered part of our adventures, the ones we could always look back and have a good laugh. Good things outweigh the not so good that we are so thankful about.

Greg took up a job for FPL early last year. From our humble abode in Bethel, Maine, we gathered our most precious earthly possessions that summed up in 2 bags then we moved to Florida and joined the glitzy neighborhood of Jupiter Bay. It was a merry mix of fun and excitement as well as tension and hullabaloo.

New friends arrived in the picture and one thing led to another. I believe that fate plays a role in my daily life. I dialed a random number from the phone directory to find me a reputable driving school to help me get back my driving confidence. Of all the driving schools in Jupiter I found A Treasure Coast Driving School more non-comical than Comedy Traffic School so I dialed the former. It is such a small world we live in, someone by the name of ED, my would- be instructor called me to confirm the time of my driving lessons. Somewhere in the corners of my tongue must have given it away and Ed asked me where I was from originally and I said I am from the Philippines. He said, no way. Where in the Philippines? I said, from Bicol. Oh, really? Where in Bicol? And our worlds keep getting smaller and smaller. It turned out that his wife is from Sorsogon and he immediately arranged for us to meet in person. The rest was history. Judy and her friends Veegie and Tim Hammill soon became part of our Jupiter days. We had fun with these guys and that marks the beginning of my social life in Jupiter.

My other social life involves going to Publix everyday where I was able to know most of the people working there. It is a short walk from Jupiter Bay and going there everyday makes up for my daily exercise. Then I crossed path with a nice Filipina who literally leaped when she saw and recognized me as a Filipina. Her name is Maricel. A short introductions and exchange of information (she is from Sorsogon as well), she introduced me to her boss Dawn and that was the beginning of my aborted career at Sally Beauty Company. Unfortunately, I had to leave Sally to relocate to Arcadia. Tears were shed but good memories remain. We still keep in touch.

Then Greg had almost a heart attack, and after a catheterization, it was diagnosed to be a myocardial bridge, not really a heart attack, but a condition he was born with. Nothing can be done but still an episode that shook us both.

We've travelled a lot last year. We've been thinking of going to the Bahamas but that too was aborted. But we had a great time when we were stranded in Philadelphia on a bad stormy day, our luggage lost and no warm clothes to warm us. That was a trip from West Palm to Maine that we never expected to go so terribly wrong so we put all our jackets in the luggage. When get to Philly, flights were cancelled that we have to stay overnight in a run down hotel denied of our belongings. Stranded in the middle of a snow storm in our tropical attire (we came from West Palm, we tell everybody who wonder to justify our lack of proper attire). Then we got ourselves a $3 hoody from a CVS 2 blocks away from the hotel. We look like homeless people running from corner to corner.

The next day, we took the train to Boston as taking the plane would be impossible. It was a great ride.

Travel was the theme for last year. We've been to Binghamton and Canandaigua in New York. It was a great visit with family.

The year culminates with us moving again, this time to Arcadia. A very small town in the interior of Florida. We've got an old RV so we live in an RV park with all the amenities of a great community like heated pool, golf course, and all manners of entertainments. We love this place so far.

The day after Christmas, Greg jumped on a plane and as I am writing this blog, he is still in some kind of a "high" from that experience.

Today is a new day. One could only hope for a better life, new experiences and new adventures for the new year.

Happy New year everyone.