Yesterday was a medical day with visits to the Cardiologist, pharmacy for a second booster, and the dentist for a cleaning. In between, I did some shopping for my granddaughter’s 4th birthday. As a result, the day went by quickly with no time to write. Today, I have little planned, so there may even be an opportunity for some sun before company arrives for the weekend. An Outback birthday get together is also scheduled for tonight, having not seen my son or his family for weeks now.
The Singer Island trip was one of the first in my life when I wasn’t rushed to get a suntan. Two full weeks on the beach was unprecedented. I also didn’t burn, for once, so my skin is not peeling. I did set an appointment with the dermatology clinic next week as a precaution since I’ve been in a medical mode. I also have an appointment to give blood next week and a consultancy with an eye surgeon to potentially remove some of the sagging skin on my upper eyelids. It should dramatically improve my range of vision, despite the concerns of it being my very first surgical procedure. I’m also due for the standard ten-year colonoscopy.
I don’t think I’ve had this much medical attention my entire life. Medicare makes most of these procedures affordable and our resort community provides free clinics. Seventy years is a lot of wear and tear on the body, especially when I’m running every day. I’ve always said that “5k a day keeps the doctor away.” For some reason in retirement, I’m suddenly spending a lot of time around them. What’s Up Doc?
I knew there was something special about the Marriott brand, dating back to my childhood and the downtown Elkhart Root Beer Barrel. I was recently made aware of the connection by a Facebook friend from my home town who posted a picture of the iconic A&W Root Beer stand and provided a little history:
It all began in 1927 with an A&W root beer stand. Founder J. Willard Marriott and his wife, Alice, got their young business off the ground by quenching people’s thirst during Washington D.C.’s hot, muggy summers. Good food and good service at a fair price became a guiding principle for Hot Shoppes restaurants–and for Marriott International as it grew.”
As time went on, “the Marriotts added hot food items to their menu–a first for A&W franchises–and the name “Hot Shoppes” was born, opening two more locations, including the East Coast’s first drive-in restaurant. By 1937, in flight catering debuted when Hot Shoppes begins delivery of boxed lunches to passengers at Hoover Airport, south of Washington, D.C.” The stock became public in 1953 at $10.25/share and sold out in two hours of trading.”
“Marriott made a historic shift into the hotel business in 1957. The world’s first motor hotel opened in Arlington, Virginia, under the management of J. Willard Marriott’s son, Bill. Over the next 25 years, Marriott became a diverse global enterprise, and Bill Marriott became a visionary CEO whose leadership transformed the hospitality industry. The first international property then opened in Acapulco, Mexico in 1969 while a partnership with Sun Line in 1972, allowed the first lodging company to enter the cruise business. Also that year, J.W. Marriott, Jr. was named Chief Executive Officer of Marriott, adding the Courtyard brand for business travelers by 1983 and by building the first JW Marriott in Washington DC.
“One company, many brands–that’s the innovative model that Marriott began building in the late 1980s. From pioneering the extended-stay business to launching distinctive brands geared toward the business traveler to increasing its presence overseas, Marriott International broke new ground in its quest to become the #1 hospitality company in the world.”
“In 1987, with the opening of the first Fairfield Inn and Marriott Suites hotels, Marriott become the first lodging company to offer a portfolio of brands, also acquiring Residence Inn to pioneer the extended-stay lodging business. 1988 then saw Marriott open its 500th hotel in Warsaw, Poland, the first western-managed hotel in Eastern Europe. By 1995, a famous, historic luxury brand was added into its portfolio when it acquired a 49% interest in The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Two years later Renaissance and TownePlace Suites were part of the group, followed by SpringHill Suites by Marriott in 1998 and ExecuStay corporate housing in 1999,”
Alice Sheets Marriott – “Mother Marriott” – passed away in 2000, but growth from her A&W roots continued as the first Bulgari Hotels & Resorts opened in Milan, Italy in 2008 and the EDITION brand was launched in 2008. “Marriott was on a mission to shape the future of travel through technology and innovation. From mobile check-in and lobby Greatrooms to transforming the meeting experience with the Coat Direct app. Gaylord, MOXY HOTELS, AC, Protea in Africa, Delta Hotels in Canada, and Starwood positioned Marriott as the world’s largest hotel company in 2016 with over 5700 properties, 1.1 million rooms, and 30 brands in over 110 countries. It was the year that my wife and I joined the Marriott Vacation Club, using our Bonvoy card to travel the world under the care of Mother Marriott, to whom we raise a frosty mug!
I like to joke that I have “multiple mothers” as we celebrate Mother’s Day every year. After all, it took more than one woman to raise me, along with Mother Marriott to watch over me when I travel the world. I’m not a religious man, so Mother Marriott takes the place of Mother Superior. Silliness aside, I give all the credit to my adopted parents who rescued me from the Suemma Coleman agency. I also know the identity and whereabouts of my now 89-year old birth mother. Sadly, she does not acknowledge my existence even though she made it possible over seventy years ago.
Being a teenage mother is difficult in any era, especially in the early 1950s when unwed pregnancies were shunned. I can only imagine the shame that was imposed on my birth mother by her family, friends, and society, forced to give me up to strangers whether her decision or not. They undoubtedly tried to hide her condition and took her far from home to give birth. I would guess that there were times when she tried to figure out a way to keep me as part of her life, and moments when she hated me. Since abortion was not a safe option for her back then, I was probably better off raised by the loving couple that I’ve always proudly called “Mom and Dad.” I could never blame her for trying to erase all the memories from her mind.
Mother’s Day for me is a time for reflection and appreciation, as I try to make sense of my life. I no longer have a mother to honor on this day. I hate to call it indiscretion that gave me life. I prefer to think of her as being naïve and caught in a moment of passion. The birth father was about four years older and preparing to enter the service. I’m sure that neither of them thought about the consequences, but she had to live with the “mistake,” while he probably never knew that a child was on the way. She got little support and undoubtedly lots of criticism. I’m simple grateful that there was a special couple that wanted a baby when they couldn’t have one. As a result, I became a treasured part of their family when I could have been a burden to a teenage girl.
Because of me, my birth mother’s life drastically changed. From what I’ve been able to uncover, she had to quit high school, get a factory job, and struggle with doubts of desirability and prospects for future relationships. She was a tainted woman, harboring a secret for the rest of her life. I made my best efforts to let her know how grateful I was for life and what I’ve done with that time on Earth. I’ve made serious misjudgments just as she has, and it’s sad that we never got to know each other. She might even be proud.
Abortion was never a legal option for her as Roe vs. Wade didn’t happen until 1973, Consequently, I can’t give her or her family credit for preserving my life in the womb and allowing for my adoption. They never had a choice, as women have today. Adoption is always the best option with a healthy child and mother, but it comes with emotional and physical hardship. Those that have gone through it, like my birth mother, are strong, selfless individuals who preserve lives and enable others to raise families. Depending on the circumstances, all women should have a choice when it comes to their bodies, so it’s hard to belief that the 45-year law is now being seriously reconsidered. I’m so thankful for life on this Mother’s Day, especially since it was such a hardship on my birth mother. I have life, but I’m not necessarily Pro-Life.
A Happy Mother’s Day to all. I honored my wife with a Cracker Barrel lunch, her favorite, and a poem recapping our 21st Anniversary trip to Singer Island. It may be more of a tribute to Mother Marriott than my loving wife, since she isn’t my mother or the mother of my child. She does have two beautiful daughters of her own that are thousands of miles away, so I wanted to do something for her on this special day.
I do make a reference to “rings” in this poem because I used to buy her lots of jewelry. Every anniversary occasion I would ask her to “marry me again?” She would always hopefully say “yes, but where’s the ring?” Unfortunately, I no longer have diamonds in the retirement budget, so we settled on this two week long cross-Florida trip. The only rings I could afford this year were Onion Rings at the poolside restaurant.
Mother M
We drove cross-state,
For time together.
It wasn’t like seeking,
Warmer weather.
Tally couldn’t go,
We met old pals.
Hoosier Neighbors,
And a Pi Phi gal.
Jetty’s Lighthouse,
And Conchy Joe’s.
The rest of the time,
Had sand in our toes.
Netflix and Chill,
Billions and Ozark.
We never saw a gator,
Or even a shark.
Dinner at The Breakers,
For Lobster and steak.
After too much company,
We needed a break.
Live Aid memories,
And other BFF things.
On The Rocks,
For anniversary “rings.”
Unlike the old days,
When a finger it fit.
All you got this year,
Was a beach chair to sit.
A pricy seat,
On Singer Isle.
Two oceanside weeks,
Mother Marriott style.
Twenty-One years,
Since we said, “I Do.”
We didn’t do much,
From our lofty view.
Poolside Bingo,
But we don’t win.
Out of Haagen-Dazs,
Ham Salad again.
After all of these years,
Loving you is still a thrill.
And on our way home,
My Coke didn’t spill.
Happy Mother’s Day 2022
Love, MikeL
I’ve reached the point now where I can no longer reference things that happened in the year related to my post number. Here I am writing Post #2023 and thinking about the future. We do have specific plans for next year including an Arizona Spring Training trip, a Nile River Cruise, a long drive into Maine, and maybe a family get together in Tahoe to make up for the fire last year that caused us to cancel. My health will be the biggest concern, and I will know more after next weeks consultation with a cardiologist. I’ve yet to have any kind of surgery in my life, but coming up soon is a minor eye procedure that will require some skin removal and the potential for repairs to a lower aorta aneurysm that was discovered years ago. I also face my ten-year colonoscopy that will put me under for a short time. In other words, my future involves a lot of poking and prodding.
I would much rather focus on the travel rather than the doctor appointments. However, my seventy year old body does require some attention. I will continue to try to run every day despite these obstacles even if it means a treadmill or ship deck. Even though I fight the urge to quit every single morning, it’s the positive force that keeps me going. The Florida heat and winds are now a factor but this morning it was overcast with the threat of rain. I finished my familiar 5k route to make it 4,878 consecutive days. It did start to pour in the middle of my swim, so I did cut that a bit short.
We had another successful “Meet The Neighbors” gathering last night. A year ago was the very first Borrego Street party in a driveway down the street. We then hosted the second one in the sweltering June heat with a band playing in our garage. My wife then volunteered to organize our regular get togethers at the nearby clubhouse in air conditioned comfort or under the poolside pergola with a breeze off the pond. The band played again last night to celebrate our ninth time together as a group. In addition, there have been community functions, Borrego Boyz luncheons, a retirement party, a brunch, dinner parties, impromptu driveway meet-ups, and several birthday parties where we’ve had the opportunity to make great new friends.
Most of my friends are avid outdoorsmen. They prefer to be outside doing activities like hiking, surfing, horseback riding, kayaking, climbing, rollerblading, softball, tennis, pickle ball, dog walking, shuffleboard, and cornhole. Although I choose to run every day, I’m much happier being an indoorsman. I like air conditioning, television, movie theatres, streaming, wi-fi and being a couch potato. I get my share of sunshine and fresh air during my morning run and swim. Occasionally, I’ll brave the outdoors in the afternoon by sitting on a beach chair. It keeps me tan and looking like a rugged outdoorsman.
I just spent two weeks working on my tan. It was hot and often uncomfortable, made tolerable by reading books. Occasionally, I would jump in the surf but mostly I just lounged. Sunshine can be very addicting but so can a cool, dark room. I spend a total of only about one hour a day outside with the combination of a 5k run and some short dog walking stints. I’m glad to be back in my routine after being away from home so long. The next few times will be even longer.
My sleep has been disrupted the last two nights by the smoke alarms. It drives our schnauzer Tally crazy, especially after all the trouble we had a year ago with defective sensors. There is nothing worse the the sound of a smoke alarm chirping in a house with no furniture to absorb the noise. Plus, they always seem to go off in the middle of the night. Two nights ago, we got a call from my widowed neighbor about 1:30 a.m. after her alarms sounded repeatedly. Her dog was understandably upset with the high-pitched squawking. I grabbed my ladder and disconnected the power, as I had learned from my experiences after just moving in. I bought a tall step ladder just for this purpose.
After another neighbor and I got her system finally squared away yesterday morning, our alarm coincidentally went off last night at about the same damn time. Tally retreated towards the exits and I grabbed the ladder while still half asleep and mildly under the influence of a couple Cinco de Maya margaritas. This morning I replaced each of the batteries in all the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, as seems to be required every year at this time. The only thing worse is being on a ladder outdoors!
The year 2021 was filled with great expectations as we made our move from the cramped Portland apartment to our new Venice, Florida home. This would entail hiring a moving company, packing up all our belongings, and making another 3,000 mile drive. We were actually concerned that the moving company might beat us to the final destination. Instead, they were delayed by nearly seven weeks, as Covid continued to affect truck driver availability. My wife also encountered another unexpected obstacle along the way when she developed a painful kidney stone issue. It required an emergency stop in Burlington, Colorado and minor surgery in Indianapolis.
Although we arrived in Florida after just a few days delay, our furniture came much later. We had fortunately had the foresight to have sent ahead our inflatable bed on one of our 2020 flights. After a few weeks of discomfort, we then went out and bought a bed that we needed for the guest room. We also borrowed from my son a table, some folding chairs, and an aquarium stand that was used for the TV. My wife and I were also quick to jump at an opportunity to go to Marco Island with some friends for a few days while we continued to wait for our furniture to arrive.
Finally, in the third week of May the long lost moving truck finally arrived. After getting our home semi-organized, we went back to Portland for the U.S. Olympic Trials, another event that had been delayed by the troublesome Covid virus. A trip to Amelia Island followed, so we could see the twin girls born to my wife’s nephew along with our very first visit to Singer Island. We returned there last week for a longer stay. In September, we also squeezed in a family excursion to Pittsburg for a ball game before our very first houseguests began to arrive. They’ve kept coming ever since between visits to the Kennedy Space Center and Disneyworld. I’m not sure how we would have worked in Spain, Tahoe, and Hawaii that were originally scheduled but cancelled. It was a busy enough year already!
As I approach post #2022 there will be no more reminiscing about years gone by. I will have to think of a new idea starter when it comes to my daily ramblings. When writing about the year 2019 yesterday, I suddenly realized what an eventful, live-changing year it was in my life. (See Post #2019) As I now look back with hindsight on last year, 2020, it began as a busy continuation of 2019, starting with dinner at Bern’s Steak House in Tampa. The two girls were married and owned homes of their own. We sent them on nice honeymoons to Hawaii, but left them on the West Coast while we looked for the right place in Florida to retire. We had made plans to get together with them all in both Tahoe and Hawaii before the year was over that never happened. We also had trips planned to St. Kitts, Bali, Egypt, Spain, and Russia, hoping to frequently escape from the cramped confines of our small apartment in Portland. We did get to Las Vegas and were on the plane to Phoenix when the sky fell in.
All our travel plans changed in an instant with the onset of Covid. Spring Training was cancelled, even the NCAA Tournament. We were grounded in Portland for months but in the midst of Covid cautiously got on a Orlando bound plane in June and rented a car to tour potential Florida homesites. By the end of the journey we had put money down on the lot that with some adjustments would eventually become our new home. After the flight home, a month later we drove the Solara to Glacier National Park, meeting friends for Walla Walla wine tasting on the way there. The Canadian border was closed so we had to alter our plans to stay at the Prince Albert Hotel – no thanks again to Covid.
In August, we got in the Lexus and drove the 3,000 miles to Florida, stopping in San Francisco, Desert Springs, Tucson, Marfa, Austin, and Lake City along the way. We then started the building process in Venice before leaving the car at my son’s house and flying back to Portland. This completed the first leg of our permanent move that would happen in early 2021. It was another eventful year without a single trip to Back Home to Indiana for once. I reflect back to what I’ll probably always call the year of the virus where Hindsight is 20/20.
The year 2019 was a life-changing year for our family. We brought in the new year at Holdfast with a fabulous meal. My wife was still working but we still managed a week in Arizona, a weekend trip to Seattle for some IU baseball, a week in Thailand, a quick business venture to Chicago, Maui with the Auto Dealers, Walla-Walla for wine tasting, a few days at Canada’s Butchart Gardens with the pups, a long weekend in Steamboat during the summer, two trips to San Francisco for my wife’s youngest daughter’s wedding, a second wedding in Portland for my wife’s oldest daughter, the sale of our house and subsequent move to an apartment, a visit with the grandkids in Florida, and what was to be my wife’s final business excursion to New York. Whew! By the end of the year, my wife had lost her mother, and we we were both retired, driving through Florida to look for a new home.
None of us knew at that time that Covid was lurking around the corner. Fortunately, my wife’s mother never had to deal with the additional isolation it would have brought to her life. Sadly, she never got to see her granddaughters walk down the aisle. So, two weddings, a funeral, my wife’s unexpected retirement, and the sale of our Portland house were the most memorable events of 2019. There were also 24-Marriott stays of various lengths that were scattered around these life-changing memories.
In 2020, we would not go back to Indiana for the first time in our lives. There were no more visits to Rochester where my wife’s mother lived, no travel to Elkhart where I grew up, or holiday get-togethers in Indianapolis with my wife’s sister. Our immediate family was now spread from coast-to-coast: Portland, San Francisco, and Florida. We had to decide where to eventually settle down.
It’s trash day with no bin to take to the curb. It takes me back to the Portland apartment and dumping it down the shoot. Next Monday we’ll be back to the routine with the Dog Park, Trash, and Movie back in the picture. Today, we’re headed to the beach, a short walk from the pool, to claim our overpriced beach chairs for the day. No scrambling for a precious spot by the pools that all seem to be claimed by 9 a.m. Tomorrow will be our last full day of vacation before we head home on Wednesday to reclaim our dog.
Surprisingly, we didn’t get out to see much of the sights around Singer Island. We fully expected a rain day to visit the Flagler Museum and other nearby historical landmarks. Although rain was in the forecast, it never really disrupted our day and we only went out to eat three times, including the resort tiki bar for lunch. My wife has been very good at preparing meals in our kitchen, saving lots of money compared to our usual vacations. I was reluctant to use the word “vacation” in these days of retirement, but these two weeks have been different. We did need a break from the routine outside of house guests. Getting our home put together this past year has been both stressful and expensive. We were glad to get away from everything but Tally. The main distinction is that we don’t have to go back to the office!
It will be good to see my son and grandkids again, get back to my running routine through the neighborhood, and reacquaint ourselves with the neighbors. I’ve also missed a few episodes of Winning Time and Curse of Oak Island. We did get to watch Billions and Ozark when we weren’t reading by the pool or mesmerized by watching the Atlantic Ocean waves crash against the beach from our patio. The Gulf Coast is much more peaceful and the water much warmer. However, it’s always fun to get a taste of the tropical winds and massive waves on this – the other side of Florida.
