I was too busy to post anything yesterday with grandkids to entertain. Suddenly, it’s Wednesday and another episode of The Curse of Oak Island. I will also go to the chiropractor and return a defective propane tank. I did find time to watch Winning Time as well as  Bird and Magic: A Courtship of Rivals on HBO once everyone had gone home last night and my wife took a call from her sister. Monday, I had indicated there might not be time for a movie, but my wife’s bridge club was cancelled so we went to see Uncharted before picking my grandson up from school. I’m trying to renew my Regal Unlimited movie passes for another year, but frustrated with the process that isn’t allowing me to speak with someone. You would think they would be doing everything possible to get my business, but in these Covid times it’s hard to get help. I think we were one of five people watching the movie on Monday in a theatre holding hundreds. 

We were invited to a driveway party by one of our neighbors after we got home from the movies. It’s one thing after another in the quest to meet everyone and establish new friendships. We’ll hold another “Meet the Neighbors” event in May but in the meantime have a retirement party, brunch, and birthday party scheduled on our block, not to mention dealing with home warranty issues. I’ll be glad to get to Singer Island to rest from all the social obligations in our resort community. It will be good to be just another anonymous neighbor at a Marriott resort and away from all these get-togethers for a couple of weeks. 

We continue to make plans for our summer drive to the Grand Hotel, another escape from the neighborhood. I don’t mean to present my home as prison-like with a need to break-out, but it gets to be a bit much familiarizing myself with 2500 neighbors. In the month of March alone, we’ve been invited to a dance-off, card games, spring training games, a book club, pool party, boys lunch, girls dinner, Hoosier dinner, “Meet the Neighbors” event, 2 concerts, a wine tasting, blues festival, eco-tour, dolphin cruise, harp performance, Beauty and the Beast, and several driveway happy hours. It probably would have been more but my wife was out of town for a week, after  enjoying a visit from her daughter/spouse, while I had overnight guests for eight straight days. We also made drives to Ft. Myers, Punta Gorda, Bradenton, and Bonita Springs for lunch with friends, plus four stressful back-and-forth trips to the Tampa Airport. This does not include my wife’s daily ventures to the dog park, pickleball reservations, baby sitting, movies, shopping, tap, or aqua fit classes. It’s a very busy and active lifestyle that deserves a break, at least as far as I’m concerned. This is in sharp contrast to our last few months in Portland where everything was closed, we never got together with neighbors, and most of the day was spent in front of the TV. As a result, we’re both fulfilled but exhausted and looking forward to our April Anniversary escape plans.