Paridise Almost Lost

The clock beside the bed read 4:45 a.m.! We wanted leave for the airport at 4:00 a.m.! We are already 45 minutes behind schedule to catch our 6:30 a.m. flight. Hurry to dress and finish packing. Out the door in 20 minutes! Left cell phone behind! 30 minute drive to the Orlando airport done in 25 minutes. Arrive at airport at 5:30 a.m.! Sherry runs in to to print boarding passes and check luggage. I do laps around airport....1....2....3...4. Sherry jumps in. I jump out with my carry on bags. Sherry hands me "my" boarding pass and leaves to park car in employee parking lot. In the dark and hurry she gives me her first leg boarding pass. I, without glasses on, do not notice. I head to the security check. Somehow (miracle?) the TSA guy does not catch the wrong boarding pass, checks my passport, and lets me through. I help lady with her bags on security conveyor. I leave my passport and wrong boarding pass somewhere in the process. I go to pat down (pace maker). I realize I do not have passport and boarding pass in my poscession. I am sure that I am not going to be able to fly. I have no way to contact Sherry (cell phone at home). A TSA agent says; "Are you Dicer, I found your (Sherry's) boarding pass and passport. (miracle?) Both look at passport (not boarding pass) and return them to me (miracle?). Time now 6:10 a.m.! Flight is finishing boarding when I arrive at gate (furthest one away it could have been). Time is 6:15 a.m.! Sherry arrives at gate and says; "How did you get through with the wrong boarding pass". I reply; "I had the wrong boarding pass?" She straightens everything out behind the gate counter. We board plane at 6:20 a.m.!

It never should have happened. No way to communicate with each other. Wrong info. Running late. Mistake after mistake. But somehow it did! And as I plopped into that seat in row 47 I took a deep breath, thanked God, and said to myself; "Surely THE BEST IS YET TO COME.

And it was! See photo!

Retirement Thanks To Timeshare 101

I am one of those "idiots" who got messed up in buying timeshare vacation housing. Back in 1984 Sherry and I purchased our first timeshare property in Tennessee. Throughout the next 26 years we picked up a little more here and there as we could afford it. With each purchase our "Annual Maintenance Fee" increased to be quite sizable but for the last ten years we have rented enough vacation weeks to pay 90% of that fee.

Now as we retire we have enough "points" accumulated to live at Wyndham Vacation Resorts year-round. While Sherry continues to work for Delta Airlines (6 more years) we will live here at Wyndham Cypress Palms in Kissimmee, Florida. After she retires, we will be free to travel anywhere there is a Wyndham and stay however long we like.

Here's the bottom line! We paid our monthly maintenence fee ($700) and that's it! No utility bills, no pool care expense, no lawn care expense, no cable TV expense, no upkeep expense (if anything breaks they replace it), no home insurance payments, etc. You get the idea! We'll never have to buy toilet paper, kleenex, dish washer soap, laundry soap, coffee, appliances, furniture, carpet, window treatments, newspaper, etc. You get the idea.

Here, at Cypress Palms, we will have 2 pools, 2 hot tubs, an exercise club, playgrounds, gas grills, twice weekly maid service, etc. You get the idea. The two bedroom condo we have is spacious and newly remodeled (last month) with all new furniture, floor coverings, appliances, etc. You get the idea.

We have sold or given away all our furniture and most of our clothes. We are going to live simply yet comfortably. So you can begin to see how I can continue to say: THE BEST IS YET TO COME!