We spent another great evening with our friends Donnell and Michele. We met at our favorite Thai Restaurant and had a wonderful dinner. I’m already looking forward to our next visit. The more we’re around them the closer we get and the more laughs we have. They have already moved away from the hotel but we’re so happy they called yesterday to set up our date for last evening. We’ve exchanged numbers and we will definitely be doing this again.

They have been approved for their loan and should be closing on their house this week. Michele was telling us everything that needs to be done like rip up the pink carpet and paint over the very pink walls and on and on. But she’s already talking about fixing dinner for us one evening in the future. What FUN!

The friends we meet along the way are truly amazing. After spending 3 weeks in a hotel, you sort of separate the old timers from the people who are on ‘vacation’. So far we’ve made friends with many couples who are not vacationing but each have their own circumstances that brought them to this hotel.

I’ll start with Donnell and Michele, they are such a warm fun couple to see each morning at breakfast and after seeing them a while we asked if they were vacationing. Come to find out, both Donnell and Michele are transferring here like us. Tonight we so happened to bump into them on our way out to dinner and we asked if they would like to join us. They agreed and what a wonderful evening we all had. Donnell is soft spoken mixed with a twist of humor and Michele seems just a little more outspoken. We spent several hours with them this evening and what a delightful night we had. We’ve already made plans to have another date with them next weekend for dinner. I’m so glad we met that cute couple.

Then there is Derrick and Lora who we’ve seen day in and day out from the time we arrived. They are such a darling couple with the cutest, well mannered little boys. They have just transferred here from Ontario Canada. This morning when I was at breakfast, Lora and I visited for over an hour. Her cute little guys are around 3 and 5 and they both have taken quite a liking to me. They were both asking for my help with juice or water or something and I was so delighted to give them a hand. At one point the littlest one was right by my side resting on my lap as though I were his mom. Oh, he won my heart over this morning.

Bob, he’s our 85 year old friend. He so proudly told me his age the other morning and he and his wife have been here since May. A huge tree fell onto their home and has done some pretty serious damage to their house and they will be here until their home is back in living conditions. I’ve never met Bob’s wife as she never comes down to breakfast with her groom. She’s quite sickly and has been in and out of the hospital on and off all summer.

And then the cute little couple (who I would say are well into their 70’s) we’ve seen from day one. All I can remember is the gal’s name and her name is Rosalie. They just told us that they are here due to a fire destroying their home. It was so sad to hear her tell us all about their home and how everything was destroyed. They were in the home when the fire started but did not realize that a major fire was already underway until it was too late. The only things that made it were the precious couple and the clothes on their backs. To be exact, she told me all she had on was her night gown and that’s it. She says her husband is the one who keeps her upbeat during this traumatic experience as he says “We’re not taking anything when we leave this world and the funny thing is, we outlasted all of our worldly possessions”. Through all of this they have managed to be the happiest little couple and she always has that pretty bright smile through it all.

Kathy, she and I struck up conversation this morning and seemed to talk the early morning away. When she asked what I was going to do on this gorgeous day, I responded, I think I’ll do a little scrapbooking, some errands and whatnot. She found that interesting and went on to tell me how she’s an artist and has some of her work in a gallery downtown. We bonded immediately and our conversation was like a river flowing from that moment on. She said “for some reason, I knew I should get to know you”. She told me about ~ Gallery Night which means they have Gallery Night every first Friday of the month and she’s invited me to come by her place this coming October for the Gallery Night.

We’ve grown to have a soft spot in our hearts for the people we rub shoulders with day in and day out. And I know we’ve already met people that we will definitely see after we part ways from here.

Yesterday’s plans were canceled due to my need to stay in bed all day. I guess you could say I was blessed with a very good dose of food poisoning from dinner Monday evening. I woke early Tuesday morning sometime around 3:00 AM feeling ever so sick and stayed in bed until 4:00 yesterday afternoon. Due to all that sleep, I was concerned if I would get any sleep last night but by nightfall I was completely exhausted and ready for sleep.

Today dawned and I felt like a brand new person, it’s amazing just how great I felt and was reminded to never take my good health for granted. I had plans to meet my friend Jennifer at the local Starbucks where we began our morning. Then she proceeded to be my Realtor for the entire morning and breaking for a nice lunch afterward. My new and improved Realtor Jennifer took me by some fabulous places for sale and I plan to take Hubby for a gander when he gets home! Then we continued on to a couple pottery galleries in the area and that is when I began to feel just a little bit closer to my passion for pottery. And to my surprise she introduced me to this fabulous place called where I can spend as much time as I want at that studio for just a minimal fee. I’ll say Jennifer is the best Realtor and tour guide I could have ever asked for! And the best part ~ I had such a great time visiting with her!