Greetings to all!! Very new at this - so please forgive my errors!! Anyway - I'm a very good friend of Col Wes & Ida, and he told me about this great website. So, I decided to try it out. I am one of the lucky ones - retired, but was unfortunately medically retired from the Army after 24+ years (Ida and I went to Officer Basic Course together). (I actually signed out of the military on Sep 10, 2001 in Wash DC, and was on my way to the Pentagon to turn in some official paperwork on that fateful morning - but decided to enjoy the "first day of my new life", and played tennis instead. Never did make it there, for obvious reasons!! Fate, Karma - whatever, but my nine lives are going fast.
I discovered cruising that year - going on my first cruise to the Greek Islands (on First European's Mistral)in Oct 2001 (which was a bit unnerving - but I wasn't going to let them ruin our lifestyles!!) and was definately hooked. I then turned my family onto this new wonderful venue - and have cruised to the Caribbean & Alaska several times (travelling on Holland America, Carnival, Celebrity and Crystal). Couldn't understand what took me so long to go cruising - but since I'm rather athletic, couldn't figure out what I would do on a cruise for a week!! Boy was I wrong!!!
I'm hitting one of my major Birthdays this year - so I'm celebrating all this year, and then will start my next life in style. I was born & raised in Wis, but now live in Granbury, Tx (just south of Ft Worth) in a nice gated community so that I could play a lot of tennis & golf. I also love to ski, travel, snorkelling/scuba (have to get recertified), horsebackriding, ah - just about every sport (if I'm able to do it!!) I'm a twin (my name is Marie Anne - hers is Anne Marie - just to add more spice & mystery as identical twins!) - or Mom was still "high on some good meds" when she named us. I try to live my life to the fullest - for I learned quickly (especially in the military, as I was in back-to-back conflicts!!) that life is far too short, so enjoy it for all it's worth. I try to stay & be positive, for I feel that why would anyone drag yourself down by being negative - and am always trying to find that silver lining in dark clouds. I feel very fortunate that I've had my family and friends always there for me thru thick and thin - thus I love meeting new people!! Especially a great group like this!!! :lct: