Memorial Day Weekend

May 30, 2010

THEN, there was my real birthday on the 29th. Thank goodness we did not celebrate it anymore, in any way, shape or form. Instead, early rise and shine for a 5k through Doylestown. Later, we attended the baby shower, welcoming baby Brooklyn, and I believe we headed to the shore to spend the Memorial Day holiday with Skalski and his Bloom friends, who had rented a huge beach house for about 20 people.

We dropped Nilly and our stuff off at Skalski's parents' place, drove to the beach, and promptly locked the keys in the car, in the ignition (at least the car was not running). We all looked at each other and shrugged - "What're you gonna do about it now?" So, we got some slices of pizza, went to lay on the beach and play football on the sand, swim in the too-cold water, and relax.

About four hours later, we called AAA and waited for about one hour for the serviceman to arrive. While we waited near some docks, a man was outside of his very large bay-side property, watering his plants. His very petite and handsome German Pinscher lay in the shade on the driveway, where three new, shiny Lexus vehicles were parked.

I warned the guys what I was going to do, and walked casually over to the gentleman. In a roundabout way, I sincerely expressed my interest in knowing how he came to be the owner of such a desireable property. I have been doing this recently - unabashedly picking the brains of people in admirable positions. He gave me the same answer I always get: HARD WORK and SAVING.

He had been a truck driver, who took every OT shift he could. They saved every penny and almost never went on vacation. They worked hard. . . . aaaand, his wife's mother or aunt happened to purchase the property for something like $5,000 a long time ago. He pointed to a delapidated one-story, tiny shack across the street - an abandoned home, splintered boards and broken windows, right on the bay with an extended dock.

"It used to look like that," he reminisced. Then, sweeping his arm toward the three story beauty he now owned, with huge front and back decks, windows and siding gleaning like new in the summer sun, he talked about the hundred thousand dollars they spent to update the property. That gave me an idea of its value. He added that the owners of the abandoned shack across the street are selling the plot alone for $1.5M. INHERITANCE, hard work, and saving.

The AAA guy unlocked the car in about 6 seconds using his slim jim kit. We met at the beach house for some drinks, miracously got a table for 18 at a packed seafood restaurant, and drank too much until I (volunteer DD) called it a night and dragged everyone out of there. Whispering too loudly in Skalski's parents' kitchen, we had the obligatory Wawa nightcap and headed home early the next morning to beat the traffic.