Silver and Gold

February 9 – 23, 2023

Growing up, I belonged to the local Girl Scout Troop in Eldridge, Iowa.  One of the songs we sang at Bridging Ceremonies was: 

“♬Make new friends but keep the old. 🎶  One is silver and the other’s gold. ♪”  

What a great sliver of wisdom to share with children.  It’s really something to carry with you for a lifetime.  During our stay in Wildwood, FL, we were fortunate to be able to spend time enjoying both our silver and our gold friends!

We stayed at Wildwood RV Campground primarily because it was along the route we were wanting to go and it was a Thousand Trails campground, of which we are members.  We really didn’t know anything about the area, but we were confident we wouldn’t have any trouble filling our time.  After all, it’s February and we were in Florida!  Although the campground really wasn’t much to look at, they offered lots of activities for all ages.  I know my personal favorites included the Chocolate Festival offered on Valentine’s Day and time at the pool!

Last November, during our visit to the Savannah, GA area, we met Bill and Erin along with another couple, Tony and Trina.  The six of us spent a few evenings around a campfire and going out for dinner together.  Now, as luck would have it, Tony and Trina were camped several miles north of us and Bill and Erin were camped several miles south of us.  Wildwood made for a perfect meeting spot and Los Magueyes provided us with a delicious dinner!  It was fun catching up with everyone!  I can’t help but wonder where we will meet up next time!

Brad and Kathy have made it an annual tradition to join us along our travels.  I hope they know that we have come to expect this treat!  During our time together, we went on many hikes, took a bike ride on the Withlacoochee State Trail, snuck in a game of Euchre, played a little putt ‘n’ play, and got in games of pickleball, shuffleboard and bocce ball!

Dade Battlefield historic live oak tree

Found a big one!

Peninsula Cooter at Cooter Pond Park in Inverness, FL

Okahumpka board walk

Dangerous animals spotted at P.E.A.R. Park in Leesburg

Brad and Kathy stayed at a VRBO they rented in The Villages, which was only a few miles from our campground.  I honestly hadn’t heard about this community before we arrived; however, it seems like the rest of the world has!  The Villages is the largest retirement community in the world, with a population close to 150,000.  There are over 100 recreation centers within The Villages, offering any activity you can dream of.  Scattered around the community are several squares that offer live music every night from 5-9.  Believe me when I say, EVERYONE has a golf cart, as there are over 100 miles of golf cart paths that take you to any restaurant, swimming pool or anywhere else you may want to go to!  We were initially so overwhelmed with the area that we went on one of the free trolley rides offered to get our heads around it!

Most of my teaching career was spent at Harding Middle School in Cedar Rapids, IA, of which I have only fond memories!  Funny how time does that!  I’m certain there were days I went home frustrated and exhausted; however, those memories have faded away and I’m left with memories of spending my days with delightful children and wonderful teachers.  One of those teachers is Melanie!  It turns out that Melanie and her husband, Doug, live in the Orlando area seasonally.  I hadn’t been able to reach out to them while we were in Orlando (dang Covid!), so we met for a day of fun and food between our two locations.  West Orange Bike Trail provided us with a beautiful ride!  We began at Killarney Station and rode to Winter Garden where we stopped for a cup of coffee and conversation!  It has to have been at least a dozen years since we’d seen each other!  Once our stomachs took over the conversation, we found Thai Blossom, a yummy restaurant that did a great job of squelching the tummy growls!  Our ride ended once we arrived back at Killarney Station, where we agreed it won’t be another dozen years before we get together again!

West Orange Bike Trail with Melanie and Doug in Winter Garden

Our final social engagement was with Jim and Di.  We met Jim and Di in the mid 90’s when our daughters attended the same pre-school.  Maggie and Ashley then went on to play basketball together on a YMCA team and became good friends.  That’s another interesting thing!  Parents of our children’s friends somehow became our friends!  I hope that is still true today.  I think it is so important to know who your children are spending time with.  Jim and Di now spend their time between Nashville and The Villages.  Jim and Di invited us over to their house before we headed out for some delicious pizza at Piesano's.  Before leaving for dinner, Jim asked if we wanted to take a car or golf cart to dinner.  I think I almost got whiplash, my head turned so fast!  I said “Yes to the dress golf cart”!  We got to go to dinner like a real Villager!  Once again, we agreed it shouldn’t be so long before we get together again.  Who knows, maybe next time it will be in Nashville!

Off to dinner, Villager style!

Dinner with Di and Jim

St. Vincent de Paul became our church community for the two weeks we were in the area.  We attended Mass on a couple of Sundays, as well as Ash Wednesday.  Believe me when I say this was almost like attending a mega church!  We were stunned to find the enormous parking lots (notice the plural) completely full.  We had to park on the grass!  The church was packed to standing room only!  Looking back, we probably could have anticipated this if we had thought about this church being located in the largest retirement community in the world!  The priest even joked about it during the homily on Ash Wednesday, referring back to one of the readings (Joel 2:12-18), with “assemble the elderly”!  Mission accomplished!

St. Vincent de Paul Station of the Cross mosaics

When we weren’t playing with friends, I found myself piecing together the quilt tops for the two precious grandsons Maggie and Luke are adding to our family in May!  It was such a joy to find the fabric and backing for twin crib quilts!  Both of the quilts are made of the same fabric, but have slightly different pattern designs in them.  It will be so fun to see how these two little blessings are the same and how they are each unique.  In the meantime, I can only dream about it, as I have a few months left to wait!

Next up:

Perry, FL