Life Matters

Best Thanksgiving evah

By LINDA PETERSEN
Posted 12/4/19

I had the pleasure of spending Thanksgiving with a good friend in Florida.  Like many Rhode Islanders, she moved down there and retired but soon missed her friends. Seeking to kill two birds …

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Life Matters

Best Thanksgiving evah

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I had the pleasure of spending Thanksgiving with a good friend in Florida.  Like many Rhode Islanders, she moved down there and retired but soon missed her friends. Seeking to kill two birds with one stone, I went for a visit and to spend a peaceful holiday.

The plane trip was memorable in that we barely survived being squished into minuscule seats on the airplane. Soda and snacks were on sale, but we didn’t purchase anything. It was so tight in that seat that there was no way I was going to be able to bend down to get out my credit card. Besides, who pays for soda on an airplane?

We arrived in Tampa about 10 p.m., way past my friend’s bedtime. She lives about an hour and a half south of Tampa and she and her husband were waiting in the cell phone parking lot for a call when we arrived.  A problem became immediately apparent when I realized her telephone number was no longer stored in my phone due to a phone switch when my old phone died. I was frantic! I tried e-mailing her but, of course, she was waiting at the lot and wasn't looking at her e-mail. I tried Facebook messaging, no luck. Finally, I posted on her Facebook page "Help! I am at the Tampa airport and I do not have Peggy's phone number to come pick us up.  Could someone please call her to let her know we have arrived?" That did the trick, and, after receiving numerous phone calls, she was soon at the terminal helping to load our luggage.

Arriving at her well-appointed Floridian home, our dwelling was her luxurious RV motor home, which had been thoughtfully parked among the tall palm trees and hooked up to electricity and water. This residence had a full size bedroom, a bathroom with a shower, and a kitchen/living room combination. The refrigerator was stocked with food beyond belief, supplies to cook at least five dinners, cheese, fresh fruit, ice cream, salads, milk and half and half.  The food cabinet was stocked with cookies, popcorn, potato chips, tea and coffee bags and other goodies. The bathroom cabinet was overflowing with five different types of deodorants, an array of new, colorful toothbrushes from which to choose, and three different types of toothpaste, one flavored like bubblegum. Fresh flowers adorned the table next to a huge bowl of our favorite candies, including popcorn flavored jelly bellies and peanut butter M&Ms. To say that she welcomed us is a vast understatement.

For our viewing pleasure, her home has an outside screened in patio area with two different areas of comfortable seating arrangements, each with its own large screen television and well stocked mini-fridge. The tiki torches from the tiki bar flickered brightly while we swam in the kidney shaped, heated swimming pool and lounged in the hot tub. It was the best resort ever! To get a flavor of their life, Peggy and her husband took us to a waterfront, old-fashioned fish camp style restaurant where a band played Jimmy Buffet songs. Sitting under the palms, we listened to the old time music while we drank rum cokes, and became official “Parrot heads”. Fish food lovers, hubby and I ate until our hearts content from an eclectic menu including alligator bites, Cajun shrimp and fried, freshly caught fish.  The week was remarkably relaxing, with no work or concerns of our adult children on our minds. Peggy and I chatted while her husband and mine puttered around her home fixing light switches and pulleys and fans and such. (Hubby is an electrician and they had all kinds of electrical quirks that needed to be fixed.) On the rare occasions that we did leave, the Florida landscape seemed repetitive, like most other cities in the country except for the tall, swaying palm trees. The many strip malls featured a hairdresser of some sort, a nail salon, a wireless telephone store, a dentist and a medical marijuana dispensary.

TJ Maxx stores were in abundance, as were CVS and Walgreens. Wal-Mart seems to multiply like rabbits, especially along the Tamiami Trail, the main route from Tampa to Miami. Fortunately, shopping was not on the agenda for the week, although a store advertising permanent eyelashes caught my eye. (Alas, they were not permanent, but had to be maintained by regular visits to the shop.) The respite week in Florida week is still a memory of contentment that lingers. Peggy has invited us to come any time to our own "retreat in the RV.” We weren't home more than 5 minutes before hubby was on the computer making reservations for us to return in February.  

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