Wagon Train South

Today we head south with two cars packed tightly. We are beginning our new life as Florida retirees. Two cars will be hard because Mark doesn't like to drive and usually he keeps me amused and awake while I drive, so we decided to break the normal two day trip into four. Our goal today is to drive about 300 miles to Greensboro, NC to visit some friends, Tom and Cathy. They retired and moved to their dream home a few years ago, and we have missed them. Tonight we will stay with them and enjoy some Indian food in one of their new favorite restaurants. Fun.

Last night we had a BLAST at the home of Jeff and Sara, along with our good friends Saul, Phyllis, and Frank. Sara made a spectacular dinner of veggie egg rolls, tossed salad, smoked turkey, broccoli, and homemade coleslaw. Spectacular. There was fresh fruit and a little chocolate cake for dessert. The wine was free-flowing. Hm...Hm...Good! Thanks guys for hosting and providing a marvelous night of carefree conversation.

We also went to our synagogue for the last time as Maryland residents yesterday morning. It was bittersweet. Lots of people came because they knew we were leaving today. It should have been a somewhat sad farewell with lots of good wishes for our future happiness in Florida. However, it was tinged with sadness for the future I face with breast cancer. We are going to Florida to buy the new house and have a few days to set it up before turning around to drive up here again for treatment. We'll be driving back up here in just two weeks time.

But I am not going to talk about it anymore for two weeks! (Well, with the possible exception of tonight at Tom and Cathy's and the next night at my brother's house in Myrtle Beach.) Mark and I are going to talk only happy talk about Florida! We are going to focus all our energies on getting to the new house, getting Florida driver's licenses so we can buy Florida resident Walt Disney World annual passes, getting our new Florida license plates for the cars, and trying to enjoy some time as Floridians. I think we can do it. We are very excited and happy this morning to start this new chapter of our lives. We have talked about it and planned for it literally for nearly 10 years. This is THE DAY! Let's do it.