The Destinators – Page 16

Murrells Inlet, SC

My cousin, Sam (aka Cecile), is 17 years older than I am. She got married and moved away about the time I was learning to walk. Like her sister Jeanette, we didn’t really get to know each other back then. (I did get to know their older sister, Helen, who stayed nearby.) Sam moved back to our home town just months before I headed off to college and I met her once. Since then, we’ve met each other mostly at funerals. We vowed that we would connect sometime simply for fun. That time finally happened.

Myrtle Beach, SC

Dorothea Taylor is one of my favorite instructors at Drumeo, my favorite online drum education program and drumming community. She’s relatively new to Drumeo, having joined the instructor team about 2 years ago. However, she’s not new to drumming, nor music education – she’s been playing for 56 years and working with students for almost as long! Dorothea preaches the benefits of using rudiments (think marching bands – yup, she started out in a drumline) on the drum kit – and rudiments are what I most need to learn to take my drumming to the next level. Her no-nonsense, disciplined teaching style resonates with my learning style.

Monroe, NC

My friend Lloyd has only ever sold one guitar, and I bought it. We met online through the Blues Guitar Unleashed forum, which we were both using in our quests to become the amazingly excellent blues guitar players we are today. Since that seminal transaction, we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well through our online interactions. We have met in person once or twice, and we have tried and failed to meet in person at least one other time. This time, it was relatively simple for Sue and me to adjust our northbound route between Florida and Vermont to include Monroe, NC, which (not coincidentally) is where Lloyd and his wife Maurette have chosen to make their home.

Sumter, NC

One of the things we do for kicks when needed while we’re traveling is to google ‘organic food near me.’ It’s a great way to find little natural food stores and it takes us to places we might not otherwise have visited, usually with good results. At other times, outstanding results…

We found a little natural food store in Sumpter, SC. We arrived about 30 minutes before it opened. Not a problem as the map indicated a park nearby – the Swan Lake ~ Iris Park. Wow.

Visit with Mom

Shortly after she and my dad moved south (almost 30 years ago), my mom announced that, despite her having lived all her life in New Hampshire, Florida was now definitely her home and she would never even consider moving back to New England. Of course, the rest of our family remains in New England. However, with regular calls and in-person visits a few times a year we’re able to stay sufficiently close. The motorhome turns out to be a perfect tool for the job…

Jabs and jams, part 1.5

This time, it was a cosmic, serendipitous, path crossing of two Drumeos…

During an online conversation about drumming, fellow Drumeo member Shawna (aka Music Dragon) mentioned she was heading out on a road trip. I perked right up and asked about the trip. Numerous online conversations later, she mentioned that although she lives in North Carolina, Shawna was starting her road trip from her mom’s place in Florida. Florida? Where? Satellite Beach, about 5 miles from where my mom lives… And, she’d be in town for 2 weeks – overlapping with our stay. Gotta meet up!

Aiken, SC

Apparently they had been thinking about it, too. We knocked on the door. They opened it. US: Wow, how long has it been?! THEM: 17 years! Trish and Jim hadn’t changed a bit. And, of course, neither had we.

We all lived in the same small, socially active neighborhood in Connecticut for about 12 years. They moved away to South Carolina at about the same time we moved to Vermont. Although we’ve stayed in touch that whole time, and we did try to meet up, it did indeed take 17 years to get together live.

Jabs and jams, part 1

As Doug mentioned in the previous post, we’re on our way to spend some time with my mom in Florida. We decided to treat ourselves to a little bit of normalcy. We made plans to visit a few OVFs (Old Vaccinated Friends) along the way. Doesn’t that sound, er, normal?

On Hitting the Road Again

Well, we’re vaccinated now. Yippee! Of course we’re aware the pandemic isn’t over, but the vaccines are effective, COVID contagion is way down, and it seems folks might responsibly start venturing out and doing a few things again. Non-essential travel probably isn’t one of those things. On top of that, for our next major excursion we’re hoping to tour the Maritime Provinces, and travel to Canada is still not possible for Americans.

However, as much as it’s been a tough 14 months for everybody, it’s been tougher still for seniors in assisted living facilities. Sue’s mom lives in such a place and is long overdue for a visit, so we’ve packed up the quarantine-mobile and we’re heading south to spend a little time with her in Florida, returning back home before it gets too hot for us down there. It will be a shorter trip than previous ones, and we’ll see how it unfolds.

And just like that, we’re off on a new adventure. It feels a little weird…

A Bit of Optimism, Light at the End of the Tunnel, Hope on the Horizon, Happy Spring!

After a year plagued (pun intended) by changes in, well, just about everything, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. We anticipate receiving our COVID-19 vaccines sometime in April. That will be a giant step toward the next phase of normalcy in our lives.