Cyndi and Denise
Cyndi--Yes!! Isn't it the most wonderful feeling to look into the eyes of a rescued animal and know that you gave him/her a good home??? I have this horrid scraggly mutt named Harley whom I found almost dying in front of a Bank of America..alone and so forlorn. I could tell that he was very, very old. So, I took him in (after posting news of him at the nearby pound) and, 4 years later, he is still with me. The little guy is an enormous pain in the rear and has cost me a fortune...but his little eyes are so filled with love and gratitude, that it just makes my heart happy that he has a warm safe home to spend his last years...
Denise!! You say it so well about being in our 50s....that urgency to experience things, to live richly (and I don't mean in terms of money, LOL), that sense that life is fragile and short. I think when it really hit me was in 1999, when both of my parents died within 3 months of each other. Suddenly, when you lose your parents, you are truly slammed with your own mortality...especially, bing the oldest child (of 2), it's like when they go, you're the next in line....
That's one of the reasons I'm going on the Tahiti cruise. It's a huge extravagance for me, but who knows how my health will be in several years, who knows anything???? I've worked so hard most of my life (most of it in the service of others, one way or another) and I decided that it was time to really treat myself....plus, I've always so wanted to see Tahiti, and am too phobic about flying to go that way. The colors, the rich native culture, the natural beauty....just call me there. I am so excited!!!
If I love it as much as I think I will, I'll probably start pulling money out of market funds to go on other cruises (but less extravagant ones) in future years. I actually saw a nice cruise to Alaska--can't remember the line, but it's another line like Radisson, perhaps more like Seabourn. It goes round trip from S.F. to S.F. and is the only one that stops in Victoria. Sometime in the summer of '06.
I can't wait to meet you, also, at the QM brunch. I'm so enjoying these "board" conversations!!!!!! Warmly, Liz
