Well, it’s official. Our home is finally on the market. We signed the realtor contract this past Friday. Although we have thoroughly enjoyed being back home in Hawaii for the past seven years, we have decided to move back to Florida to be closer to our children and grand children. We made a decision to go with an old friend of mine, Ed Baumgartner, who started his own realestate agency, www.Tropical-Lightnening.com,” a couple of years ago. Ed is a retired Army Sergeant Major. We were both stationed together at Ft. McClellan, AL way back in the early to mid ’80s. He seems pretty confident that he can get the house sold in about 45 days. That would be great since we have a grandaughter graduating from High School in June. That, plus the fact that my son Matt, daughter-in-law Melissa, and our two oldest grandaughters, Michaela and Serena, are going on Asian tour sponsored my Matt’s employer in July. We also need to be there to baby sit our youngest grandaughter Leilani who is too young to travel with them.
My daughter-in-law Melissa has created a website that is solely dedicated to Purple Heart recipients: www.ourpreciousgift.com. It has only been in existance for only a few weeks and already it has gained media attention in Tampa, FL. She was interviewed by Tampa Bay’s Channel 10 on the 18th of Jan. If you go to the above website, you can view the televised interview. Thanks to the publicity, her website is growing in terms of getting Purple Heart recipients registered on the site. If you are a Purple Heart recipient or know of one, please go to the website and register.
How wonderful it is to spend time with family over the holiday season, especially when Hawaii and Florida are separated by five time zones. The problem is that time seems to fly by so quickly when your there and before you know it you are home again. These quality reunions only happens once a year if we are lucky and it is really depressing not being there to spend time with our children or watch our grandchildren grow. Although I know she will adamantly deny it, our daughter-in-law is putting up a convincing front for us to move back to Florida. Even though for the past seven years, we have enjoyed being home again in Hawaii, my wife and I aren’t getting any younger and spending time with our kids and grand-kids is our number one priority. So, back to Florida we are heading whenever we can figure out the most opportune time to make the move.
For the past few years, all the golfers in my family have enjoyed getting together for an annual Family Holiday Golf Tournament. My oldest son and I along with my brother-in-law, his son and my niece’s long time boyfriend played at the Apollo Beach Golf Course in Apollo Beach, Florida located just a few miles south of Tampa. Although we enjoyed spending the quality time together, it was a very dissapointing golf day to say the least. For the price of the green fees, the course was in terrible condition. The fairways, greens and bunkers all needed a lot of TLC. It’s been several years since returning to play here and I’ve never seen the course in this condition.
