It’s Tuesday, July 26, Judith’s birthday, and we are all set to leave for our vacation. As usual, when there are children involved there is still so much to do when preparing for a trip. Packing for children is like moving house. You need to take everything – books, toys, crayons, pencils, pads, snacks, just to name a few, and clothes, clothes, and more clothes. But the good thing about having the children is that they are delightful.

We finally left home at about 1:00 p.m. after packing the car with all the stuff. One thing we realized is that we need to a mini van. Oh well!

The 5 hour trip to The Villages, about 70 miles north-west of Orlando was the destination for our first couple of days of our vacation. We stayed with our friends, Tom and Pam, who were members of my previous parish. They moved to Florida just 2 months before we did. It was wonderful to see and spend time with them since our last meeting was at my Institution and Induction Service in March this year.

After giving us a tour of their new and beautiful home, we traveled in golf carts to one of the Squares in the community. The Villages is a retirement community in the central part of Florida. It has a large number of golf courses and there are lanes and tunnels for golf carts. In fact, residents use their golf carts more than motor vehicles when traveling in the community.

At the Square, several hundreds of people were gathered for an evening of music, dance, fun, shopping, and relaxation. There were several stores and booths of many interesting things to buy but remember, “yield not to temptation….”

After a night out on the Square, we spent a good night chatting and enjoying a lovely dinner.