Good Morning Everyone,
So today I’m announcing that I have a new love interest in my life. His name is John Sullivan and he’s from Boston and Cape Cod. He’s a practicing attorney in Massachusetts. He is retired and divorced. He has two children Emily and Andrew. Emily had her first baby so celebrated her first Mother’s Day yesterday. I’m learning a lot about him as he likes to talk and is quite interesting. He owns a home down the road from the Botanical Gardens. It’s a wonderful home with beautiful marble floors – really wonderful! He created a back yard with small white stones and cactus plants. He has a shed in the back that is mostly empty and that is where he keeps his bike.
He is in very good shape and has beautiful blue eyes and amazing eyebrows and great hair. He used to ride to the beach on his bike and then swim in the gulf, walk the beach from 33rd Avenue to Gordon Pass and back. He is a lot like me. He does things to extremes. He buys all his food at Oaks Market. Believes in healthy eating. No GMO’s etc. He lives very frugally which makes me very happy. He doesn’t like living alone. He wants to have a relationship with a woman to share his time with. He plays bridge 6 days a week from Noon to 4 to stay out of the house and out of the sun. He has “adopted” a raccoon that lives under his shed “my girl” and feeds birds and the raccoon in his back yard. He is surrounded by woods on two sides of his house. His neighbor is a “redneck” named Dave and he has 2 boats, 2 motorcycles and a variety of other toys he got from his divorce. It’s funny!
He has introduced me to Tara Brach – guided meditations. She’s great!
I met him at the New Attitudes Club. I always was attracted to him. He is mostly quiet and tolerant in the meetings. He doesn’t share much but enjoys that place like I do. He had a stroke recently. Flew up to Boston to get medical assistance, but they wouldn’t accept him – something about HIPAA. But I’m not sure about that! He got a chance to see his daughter though so that was good. Anyway, I was shocked to see him back at the meeting so soon after his stroke, but as I get to know him I know he wouldn’t stay away for long.
We struck up a conversation about “Pickleball”. He volunteered to help with the U.S. Open that occurred at our East Naples Community Park. I told him I’d been interested in playing the game since I enjoyed tennis in my younger days. There isn’t as much running around and it’s kind of like ping pong and badminton combined. The players are really serious. It’s a good game for seniors. So he gave me a pickleball and said he would play with me.
Our first time together was after the 5:30 meeting on Friday the 6th of May. We went to the beach for sunset and walked from 33rd to Gordon Pass. We then went back to his house and it was about 9 so we ate a small salad with oranges. I got home at 10:30.
The next day after the 8:00 meeting – I gave Roy a ride to the meeting and he asked me if I was going to “Food Angels” mentioning that he was running out of food. So I got the bright idea to take John to Food Angels and introduce him to the program. He was a good sport and we delivered the food to Roy. After that he came over so I could show him my house. It is so different from his place. I like his “minimalist” living. I have SO MUCH STUFF. He has empty closets in his 2 extra bedrooms! I think my porch is bigger than his but our square footage is probably about the same. I have a 2 car garage though and he doesn’t. He paid $109,000 for his in ’08. I paid $150,000 in 2013.
So yesterday we went out to “Shark Valley”. I came to the conclusion that I have a long way to go before I can ride the entire 17 miles!! But I made it halfway and then came back on the tram.
Shark Valley
John was going to wait for a truck to come pick up my bike and then finish the ride back. I got a little worried because the tram ride back was a bit lengthy but really interesting. The docent was pretty good. I sat next to a family of 7 – 4 little boys and a girl. It was crazy! I am always surprised to see big families in this day and age. They were staying in Chokoloskee for a few days and then making their way down to Marathon. They live in Tampa. I’m still thinking about them and their life together. I wonder what the father does for a living – we didn’t get much time to talk. So anyway, I learned that alligators don’t feed their young. Once they hatch they are “on their own”. Male eggs are colder than female eggs so that is how the mother alligator can tell the difference between the genders before they hatch. John told me that alligators can only run in a straight line so you can get away from them by turning in a different direction. Good to know! Speaking of alligators, how about these two:
Frick and Frack
They came up on shore while I was waiting for John. So after I got back to the end of the line, I couldn’t figure out what had happened to John. I was texting him and tried to call him, but come to find out his phone was dead. So all I could do was wait. The manager inside was telling me about some guy who was going to leave his rental bike at the tower and come back riding my bike. I wasn’t sure about what he was saying, so all I could do was wait. I knew he was going to get back eventually. As I was waiting, Frick and Frack (my names for them) came out of the water right next to me. So I took their picture! A little while later here comes John and Chris. Chris was the young guy John recruited to ride my bike. He was going to try to ride back holding my bike at his side, but Chris offered to ride it for him. Chris is a very young attorney from Chicago – originally Philadelphia and will be going into Banking upon graduation. So what are the chances of that happening? Leave it to John to talk his way into recruiting Chris to help him out! Anyway, all’s well that ends well. I don’t think John was too disappointed that I didn’t make it all around the loop (thank goodness for Chris). I am really out of shape and there is NO SHADE ANYWHERE! We started from the back end and made it halfway to the tower. I was whipped! I rode back an additional 8 miles on the tram. I now have a goal to get out there and make it around the loop. We started too late in the day. It was about 3PM and the sun was relentless! Sure I’m making excuses but now I have a mission!
So I posted a picture on FB. John doesn’t do FB. He threw out his TV years ago he says. He only eats healthy food. I laughed at how empty his refrigerator was! I have to introduce him to Amy Bowls. No GMO’s Gluten Free!
Well, I’m excited to begin this part of my journey and I’ll keep working on this relationship. I think it is going to be good for me. Let us pray!
Have a great day and thanks for visiting!
