Chapter 12; Part 1 - Visitors

At some point or another during most retirees’ winters in Florida, they get visitors – children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews from ‘up North.’ I’m always one of them; I visit Mom and Dad every year.

The funny thing about visiting Florida in the winter is you leave your city or town in the Northeast, where the average age and the average temperature are both around 38. A little more than two hours later you arrive in Florida to find that the temperature and the age of the people have both climbed about 40 points.

Chapter 11; Part 8 - Trips

After they came back from the cruise, Mom called to tell me all about it. “We had a wonderful time and the food was delicious – I ate veal parmesan, fabulous fish, and oh, the portions; it was never-ending. The shopping was wonderful too. I got such bargains – a handbag for $10 and a pair of silver earrings for $15. Oh, and the weather was beautiful too. It was always about 77 degrees.”

“What did you do every day?” I asked.

“We did so much. When we were at sea, we sat by the pool, and played shuffleboard, and walked around the track. When we were docked, we went shopping. And at night we saw some wonderful shows.”

“Mom, if I didn’t know where you went, from your description of the food, weather, pool, and the activities, I would have thought you were describing a week at Harbor View,” I said.

“Oh yeah, speaking of Harbor View, that reminds me of one more thing about the cruise,” she added, “there were lots of old people on board, too.”