Home, Sweet Home

We leave St Pete Beach tomorrow and we are both ready to go home.  We are ready to start the 44 days of radiation and then to be done with that and see what life brings at that point.

Our condo at Sunrise Resort #609 was comfortable.  The view across Ciego Bay is always lovely from sunrise to late afternoon reflections to evening when the lights are shining on the water.   We had good meals at several restaurants in the area.  We had a few outings with our rental Soul.   The toothache that worried me before we left home got better not worse.

The weather was not warm.  I never sunned myself at the pool or put on a bathing suit.   We did get in lots of walks, some on the beach, but at least regularly to Publix and Dollar Tree for supplies. I made myself do the steps to the 6th floor for my cardio workout!   We had tropical drinks twice outside at sunset hour but wore jackets to keep warm even then.

I felt guilty for not enjoying every minute of being in this beautiful place.  The cancer has made changes in our lives already and we don't know what changes are in store.   This makes me sad and even angry in a way and then ashamed of myself for feeling that way when we have so much to be thankful for.

And one thing I am thankful for, and it is a big thing, is our new life in Princeton.   We have a lovely place to live there.   We have Jeff and Susan nearby to join for supper regularly and football on TV--and this weekend, the Super Bowl.  We are beginning an  Inquirers' Class at Nassau Presbyterian Church this Sunday and that will be a good step in getting to know people and making a commitment. I have enjoyed the two choirs I am singing in. I am looking forward to a 2nd grade play in Gladwyne in February,  a choir concert at RPI in April  and a graduation at Duke in May.   Plus enjoying a meal with each one of our children and their partners in the next month or so--our Christmas gift to them.  Ruth's Chris in Princeton; Caffe el Vino in Brooklyn; and TBD near Gladwyne.

  We like our routines of life back home of happy hour at 5 pm, pancakes on Saturday morning, muffins and boiled eggs on Sunday morning, a walk to get the mail at 4 pm, etc.  Simple things but good.   Jim suggested a big change in routine from Saturday morning grocery shop at McCaffrey's to Trader Joes.  We'll give that a try.

And now our routine will involve daily trips eight milres down Route One  to the UCA for radiation.  Maybe we can incorporate that with shops and lunch out to eat. But it is time to get started on this instead of thinking about it.

Jim may cancel his trip to Vancouver for a conference in March rather than having to extend the radiaiton days into April.    I think it is unlikely we will do his research trip to the UK in May.   He probably will do his first SBL meeting as president-to-be in Atlanta in April and I may join him or not.   He will lecture at Yale in late April and I would like to go along never having seen Yale. Jim has never cared for travel and I have less zeal for it now so it just may be easier to stay home.

So tomorrow it's time to pack up, get an Uber ride to Tampa Airport, board the 1:55 United flight to Newark, get another Uber ride to Barclay Square, get a few groceries and a CVS prescription and settle in to #508 Barclay Boulevard by 9 pm or so--if all goes well!  It takes a lot of energy to travel but then it will be home, sweet home again.

______________-We are home and amazed at the way travel went today.  We got to the airport early (not with Uber but with a local car service), got an earlier flight and were in Newark by the time we were scheduled to leave Tampa!  We connected with the Uber driver easily and he got us home quickly--80 mph on the NJ Turnpike?  Jeff had picked up my prescription before the Saturday closing hour at CVS so we got that from him as well as the house plants they cared for.  We went to McCaffreys which was very quiet and easy to manage at that time of day--although the muffin supply was very low!  And now we are home, mostly unpacked.  The mail was held for us in a special box with the key to it in our little 508 box-so much easier than trying to get it from the Granger Post Office.  We see many advantages to our apartment life and feel it has really become home for us.

Sunrise Resort 2020

This is our 4th year of coming to St. Pete Beach--the first year to the Strand and the last three to Sunrise Resort.   Last year we thought three weeks was a bit too long to be away from home so this year our stay will be two weeks.  It may not be long enough.

We were a bit daunted by United's texts and emails asking us if we could be flexible about our travel because of the impending snow storm.  I called to get their suggestions which seemed to be travelling later in the day. We thought that would only make the situation worse so we stuck with our 3 pm departure time.  We called for an Uber driver before noon and it began snowing as we left Barclay Square.

However, we made the right decision because the plane left only 20 minutes late and even with the wait for deicing we were in Tampa less than an hour late.  It's always a hassle to find where to meet an Uber driver but with several questions (Is this the red terminal? Where do Uber rides usually go?) we made contact outside the baggage claim Door 5-6 and were at the resort by 8:30.

Then there was the lock box issue which did not respond to the code of the last four digits of our phone number.  Which phone number?  My cell?  Jim's cell?  Last year's home phone?   Good neighbors came along and helped us clear the input and start over.  Jim's cell was the magic one and we finally had a key!

Unit 609 is lovely--as were all the units we have rented here.   We turned around quickly and headed out to find supper.   Friendly folk in the elevator said to try Harry's Bar at the Sirata.  That was a new one for us--so we gave it a try with tropical drinks, and sharing tortilla chips with dips and an 8 ounce burger with waffle fries.   A pretty late supper but just right.



We slept well and woke to the sounds of the annual race on Gulf Boulevard.   We walked across avoiding the runners and walkers to Tradewinds to get coffee and a muffin and biscotti to share again for $15,  a typical resort price!   Next was a walk to Dollar Tree and Publix for supplies and essentials so that we could have lunch and supper at our place.   It was about 4500 steps with six bags of groceries.  I stopped to sit on benches twice; a passer-by offered to carry our bags!   Jim took the three heaviest.  I posted my collapse on Facebook which got quite a few likes and comments.

The rest of the day was reading a Joe Gunther mystery on my Kindle app and NFL for Jim.   I missed our usual Sunday practice of worship and don't feel as if I spent it in a very uplifting way.  But we certainly are glad to be here, no longer on the road or in the air, and the place is as beautiful as always.