Liz’s Lair: Living Life To The Fullest
Just so you know, next Monday I will be in Key Largo with 9 of the funniest women on the planet. I fully intend to eat too much, drink too much, get way too much sun, and kick someone’s ass at water volleyball. Yeah right!!
I tell you this because my post next Monday will be an encore one, but I promise funny stories and pictures the following Monday. We’re flying into Miami on Saturday, picking up two rental cars, and heading to Key Largo. None of us have ever been there before, so we are really looking forward to it.
I found the house online and had several email conversations with the son of the owner. Seems his mother is 94 years old and has this great 5 bedroom house with a terrific pool in the back yard that’s to die for. Anyway, the conversations moved to the phone, and I got to know a little about Bill. Y’all know how I love to BS with strangers. Well, before long, I knew way more about Bill than a normal renter should. I persuaded him to buy a volleyball net for the pool so we wouldn’t have to bring ours. (Don’t laugh. We’re obsessed with water volleyball.) I even got him to agree to get all 10 of us passes at his country club for the week. Bill ended up singing me a made-up drinking song over the phone and promised to arrange a booze cruise around the island for us. He even went on my website to check out the Bunko Babes and was looking forward to partying with us, I think.
I couldn’t wait to meet Bill as he was just the kind of person I enjoyed spending time with. He was always happy, made me laugh, and promised to spend money on me!! What more could you ask for?
So, a few weeks ago, I decided to really give the contract a onceover, and lo and behold, there was a dealbreaker in there. It basically said that the thermostat would be kept on 76 and they would read the meter before we got there. Any usage over $100 would be charged to my credit card.
Hold the phone, Mr. Bill. We’re talking ten menopausal women from Texas. There is no way we’re coming to Florida to sweat our asses off..no matter how many bennies come with the house. So, I sent him an email explaining the dilemma and said that if we couldn’t get this issue resolved, we would have to back out of the house. A week went by and he never returned my email.
Now you have to know that Bill was a traveling, jet setting kind of guy who loved cruises and drinking with friends. He lived on a three bedroom houseboat, for godssake. I figured he was off having a great time and I would give him a week. Then I called and left a message on his cell phone. When I hadn’t heard from him a week later, I got angry. No matter how much I liked him, he should have called me back. When I picked up the phone last week to rip him a new one, a woman answered.
“Who are you?” she inquired when I asked for Bill. I figured it was a jealous girlfriend, and I quickly explained that I had rented a house from him. That’s when she told me.
Bill had died suddenly two weeks earlier. OMG! Tears formed in my eyes as I felt like I’d lost a friend even though I’d never met him. At 63, he’d died in his sleep in the arms of his current girlfriend. What a way to go.
Anyway it got me thinking about how fragile life really is. I’ve recently lost a 27 year old niece who had complications from a simple arthroscopy that turned into a full blown open knee surgery. I don’t want to leave this earth and have regrets about not doing something I really wanted to do. I want to go out like Bill. Every day was an adventure to him, every person a friend.
His sister in law and the caretaker have retracted from the clause in the contract—said they never used it anyway unless the pool is heated. They can’t get us into the country club because that required a lot of paperwork that Bill would have had to do. They did buy us a volleyball net and arrange a booze cruise for us.
I am disappointed I won’t get to meet Bill, but you can bet that somewhere on that booze cruise, all ten of us will raise a glass in his name. I wish I could remember that drinking song he made up.
Now quit reading this and go tell someone you love them and then hug your kids. As soon as I finish writing this, I’m going to make a bucket list. One of the things I will definitely put on that list is a vacation with only my grandkids (without their parents.) I never knew my grandparents, and I don’t want mine to miss out on that. Another thing is to visit Germany, part of my heritage. And of course, I have to be interviewed by the great Kelly Ripa as she talks about my books before I get to hear Bill sing that song again.
So tell me what would be on your bucket list. One lucky commenter will win a souvenir from Key Largo. You have the next three Mondays to comment as many times as you like for extra chances. I’ll announce the winner when I write about the vacation.
11 comments:
Great Blog Liz! And a wonderful reminder that life just might be shorter than we'd expected so for heaven's sake do some real living!
For me, the kick came at 30 when doctors thought that the cancer I had was incurable and said I should do some of the things I'd prefaced with "one day I want to..."... and get my ducks in a row.
So I quickly learned how to live every single day like I meant it and among other things, I took flying lessons and got my Pilot's license.
That was in the 1980's and I've spent the rest of my life being thankful for this terrifying (and incorrect :) diagnosis and how it changed my life.
So I don't really have a bucket list. But I set my sights on what I want and go for it!
At 49 I challenged myself to write that book I'd always talked about -before my 50th birthday. check.
And now, 6 books later, my goal is to sell a book either through an agent or self-epub, before 2012 is over.
What an amazing story, Liz. It was almost like reading a book. I don't have a bucket list, but I think I need one. Life is short. We need to live it to the fullest. Nothing is more important than family and friends. One thing I absolutely want to do in the next year is get more organized. That might be a strange thing for a bucket list, but it would make me happier than winning the lottery.
Katt, I can only imagine how horrifying such a diagnosis must have been. It's great that you used that as a kick in the butt and started living life to the fullest.
What a great story, Liz! Again, so sorry about your niece.
Winning a Newbery is on my wish list--not my bucket list, though, because I can't control it. ;-) Publishing at least two more books is.
Katt, I'm with Anita on only guessing how horrible that diagnosis was to you. It's bad enough when you hear that at 75, but at 30???
I'm so glad they were wrong, but if you have to see the lemonade in all that life hands you, it would have to be that you are now more aware of not waiting for the "right" time to do things you want.
I salute you, my friend, and know I will see that name on a book soon.
Anita, it was really unbelievable. I so wanted to meet Bill and have him sing that stupid song to all my fiends.
And I totally understand the organized thing. I would tell you to do one organized this a week so you don't get overwhelmed. It's what I'm trying to do with my eating habits since I absolutely refuse to ever diet again.
Marilyn, sometimes the things we have no control over just have a way of turning out well. I hope so, in your case. I think you have a pretty good chance with your excellent story.
Wow, Liz, you made me laugh and grin and then tear up and cry. What a great story! I want to go the way he did with no regrets.
My husband's aunt just died and she was like a secon mother to him.
Katt, you have made me realize it's time to quit sitting on my bum, dreaming about all the things I want to do "some" day.
I don't have a bucket list, but you can bet I'm going to create one!
Thanks, Liz! I'm glad you enjoyed Lydia's story. Congrats on your PW review, too!
M
Sorry about Brian's aunt, Kari. Sometimes it takes something like this to make us aware that life really is too short. I'm reminded of the message that floated around in email kingdom a while back where a newly widowed man found a brand mew lingerie set in his wife's drawer. Apparently, she'd been saving it for the "perfect" time. Sobering!
So, tell me what's on that list of yours?
Marilyn, thanks for the love.
Post a Comment