Celebrating
Life is Meant to be Lived, and to be Celebrated
Good Start to Gratitude Month
Eleven days in, my “Gratitude Month” is off to a fine start. The timing of our fall vacation this year has certainly added to the gratitude I’m feeling for the life that we live. Yesterday was our travel day, as we dropped our little white Yorkie, Chloe, off at her new boarding place, just up the road from our new home.
She gets to hang out with a bunch of German Shepherd show-dogs this week. If I know Chloe, she’ll be the boss o’ that joint by the time we pick her up, in a week. She didn’t seem to be in the least bit intimidated when they all showered her with a resounding barking welcome when I led her in to her “hotel” room for the week. She already seemed to be calculating just how she was going to get them all in line — not that she has control issues, or anything!
New Route
This being our first vacation from our new home, we had a different itinerary for getting to the airport. Our last few trips involving flying included having a car pick us up and take us to the airport and back. In Vienna, that was affordable for us, since the airports were within a reasonable distance. We just found that easier, traveling with Kathy’s scooter and our luggage.
However, all the way down in Fredericksburg, it would have been cost prohibitive — way too much! Also cost prohibitive would have been the cost of parking at Reagan National Airport, now about $22 per day, for the economy lot! That’s crazy expensive!
So, we found a fly-drive hotel in Crystal City, where you can park your car in the hotel garage for $10 a day, and get a shuttle ride to and from the airport. That worked out well, even though the regular airport shuttle couldn’t accommodate Kathy’s scooter (and she’d checked ahead of time), but the regular hotel shuttle could, and did. We tipped the driver well.
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. The plane was only half-full, so we could spread out and relax on the fly down. We usually opt for seats way in the back, but this time, we got seats about 3 rows from the front. We were the very first to board, so we could have sat anywhere we wanted. We always fly Southwest, which is open seating. It’s all a matter of when you board, what kind of seats you get. We always make sure we board early.
Celebrating
We got checked in to our accommodations at Old Key West resort right around dinner time, so made a reservation at Olivia’s Restaurant there, always a favorite for check-in dining. The meal was spectacular, as it usually is, and they brought me a cupcake with more “Mickey” sprinkles on top of the icing-to-die-for, than I have years (65).
They knew it was my birthday, because I was wearing a big Mickey button with my name on it, that said, “I am celebrating my 65th Birthday”. Even though my birthday isn’t until Tuesday, in Disney you celebrate all week. I’ll be getting showered with birthday greetings by total strangers all week because, yes, I will be wearing that button all week. That’s what we call “Disney-style Celebrating.” As you check-in, they always ask you if you’re celebrating anything, and if you are, they give you the button.
Gone Brain Tumor
I’ll never forget the first time we came down here after my brain tumor went away (all on its own — that sucker just vanished), in 2015. They asked us if we’re celebrating anything, and I promptly said, “Yes, I am celebrating my brain tumor that’s no longer there!” I got a button, and spent the week being congratulated by total strangers for my gone tumor. I even got a free Mickey Ice Cream bar at a poolside snack bar, when the vendor asked me what I was celebrating.
You get the drift, right? Down here, they like to celebrate just about anything. They like to celebrate life — living — and help you to embrace the joy of living. We do, every time we come down here.
The Joy of Living
And what a life! We were just down here in May with my little sister and her whole family, and my niece and her daughter, celebrating our family and each other. We got annual park passes that time, since we knew we’d be back within a year. Turns out, this is the second of three trips we’ll make here within that year. We’ll be back again in April, following a week-long cruise, for more celebration of life.
Hey, you only get to live this life once, so why not enjoy it while you can? We learned that lesson in a workshop we took 28 years ago. That workshop was worth every penny we scraped together to be able to afford to take it. We’d cashed in a few savings bonds, and literally scoured the house for loose change, to come up with the workshop fee. Up until then, we’d only taken 2 vacations in the 7 years we’d been together, one of those our honeymoon. Since then, we’ve always made sure we could afford to get away, at least a couple times, and usually 3 or 4 times, a year. It’s a formula that has worked for us.
Guilt-Free Enjoyment
I’m extremely grateful that we can afford to do this. And no, I don’t feel guilty about all the people who can’t. This is my life to live, and I do my best to live it in the best way that I can. I do my part for others. When I do, I do whatever I can. When I need to relax and enjoy life, I do that, too — guilt-free. It’s a choice I make. We all get to live the choices we make. We do the best with what we have, and help those we can help, the best we can.
Today, I am celebrating being a veteran, and celebrating all the other veterans who served their country. It was an honor to have served, and I appreciate all those who did, as well. I’m glad we have a day set aside to do that.
Tomorrow, I turn 65. Today, I’ll also enjoy my last day of being 64. I’m not getting any younger — but I like to think, I’m getting just a little bit wiser. It’s been a great year.
