Last Saturday, I held fast to a pile of tissues while we sat the nosebleed section of the civic center, watching our two oldest children graduate from college. Yes, Zach and Ali graduated together. We are SOOOOOO proud of them both!! Ali has already moved out, and is working full-time as a pastry chef while keeping her own very cute apartment in Bar Harbor. Zach is and will continue to work for us, thank goodness! We’re hoping he’ll eventually take over the business someday and he has been a tremendous help to us. His business degree has already come in handy and he is considering taking even more classes in the future.

Frank is graduating from high school in two weeks (huge sniff). He has, in the past, wanted to be a geologist or an attorney, but now says he’s interested in pre-med. He told us, “There are too many lawyers and not enough doctors.”

My response was, “Two words, honey. Student loans!” 😉

The good news is there are plenty of good schools for him to choose from in Florida! He was already accepted to the University of Maine and to a private college in Florida.

And, speaking of Florida, I was all excited last week because it appeared we’d found the perfect house to rent for a year in Florida (where we’ll then shop for a home to buy). However, we then learned the reason the listing said “3-month lease” instead of “one year” is because the owners use the house twice each year. After two months searching for just the right house, and thinking I’d finally found the perfect one, I had to go back to the drawing board.

I sure had my heart set on living on the beach on the Atlantic side but all the adult kids (including Richard) really want to live near Sarasota so I conceded defeat and went back to looking at houses there as well.

I did find two homes that might work but I’m going to have to try to negotiate the rent on them down a bit. Also, we must get Mason (almost 5) into private swimming lessons ASAP because both homes have a pool. Come to think of it, a LOT of the homes for rent in Florida have pools. I, personally, would prefer not to have a pool but, once again, I was reminded by everyone else that this family is a democracy and my vote doesn’t count any more than anybody else’s. (I then reminded them that my vote was the ONLY one that counted when they were little. Hmmmph!!)

Anyway, I’m waiting to hear back from two realtors but I’m still looking online each night as well. One of the homes is in Punta Gorda while the other one is in Englewood. Both are on the water but Richard discovered that, while one of them looks like it’s on open water in the pictures, it’s actually in a harbor. I prefer open water to a canal so there’ll be a breeze – meaning fewer mosquitoes and less sweat!

This Week’s Masonism:

Sometimes Mason will erupt from silence with a statement out of nowhere. For example, the other day he was quietly sliding his trains across our wooden chest, back and forth, back and forth, when he suddenly stood up, and proudly proclaimed, “Cats have tails on their backs!”

Hugs to all

Angela

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HOW TO REMEMBER, WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR LIFE STORY! by Angela Hoy
Using Angela’s MEMORY TRIGGERS, recall memories that have been dormant for years, and record those memories in chronological order in your memory notebook. Using the memory notebook as your outline, write your autobiography! **Also works for biographies and memoirs.**