Christmas Time Again....

It's Christmas time again. Wow! A time for celebrations and a time to prepare for another year. Where did this year go? As I reflect on the year, I can't complain. Phil & I are staying positive as always; even with our busy work schedules. The bulk of our "together" time is usually at Captain Oliver's in the evenings. I usually venture to the restaurant to spend time with Phil because Captain Ollie's, (as I call it), has become a big part of our lives. Phil loves what he does and I continue to have my focus and passion on education. Education is where I have always received the greatest joys and rewards. We both have our careers; finally doing what we both enjoy in life.

We travelled together a few times this year to Florida. (Hard to believe I know...lol) Our vacations have allowed us to have fun, laugh, spend time with friends as well as much needed time together. We are learning about our new "home away from home" - Florida. We learned about the Everglades this year going on an Airboat at top speeds, (what a rush!) seeing wildlife including Aligators and exotic plants. We tried typical Floridian Everglades dishes that included: Frog, aligator, shrimp, chicken with chips-fries while we were visiting the Everglades which is superb! We acquired another home in Ft. Myers which is in the historic district, built in 1925. We think the bank left off a few 0's or numbers on the price, but we didn't bring it to their attention...lol
We started furnishing and decorating the first home in Lehigh Acres together. Even though I had been back to the house numerous times after we bought it, I waited for Phil to be with me before even thinking about buying furniture alone. I managed to finally bring the things by truck from NY, driving the entire 1500 miles alone in 2 days to make sure that I would be there to meet Phil on arrival in Ft. Myers back in April.

A purchase of the first of many (I hope) collector cars, this one being an XJ6 Jaguar with 69,000 original miles. Timing wasn't right for the Rolls Royce for Phil, but I'm keeping my eyes out for the perfect one for him. Maybe this year?

Changes in St. Martin this year as well. Phil's dad at 80 years old made a big change in his life by moving to St. Martin full time from France to be closer to Phil and his sister and grandchildren. It's nice to have him closer to us.

As for changes in my family life....it doesn't end! Words cannot describe the noncense. My sister that cannot and doesn't get along with Phil managed to find our location in Florida through People Search and purchased a home 1 mile away. WHY? Her obsession with where my location is doesn't stop to amaze me. I had to tell her to STAY AWAY from our home to prevent her from fighting with Phil and me. Fights would be inevitable with her. She never liked Phil (for her own reasons) and she managed to deliberately buy a home 1 mile away? Strange! Yes! So, I had to make a descision rather strongly to cut myself off from my entire family. Yes, the entire family. Why? Because when one of my family members knows my business, everybody knows my business. Then the trouble begins. The turmoil, fighting, dissagreements, disruptions in my (our) life on and on....So, since I made the choice, our life is quiet, no problems, no fighting, no butting into our life. Basically CALM. Finally. Sad as it sounds, I needed to break away to keep peace in my life. Phil and I don't have problems between us, we have our dissagreements, but, they are minor and the love always wins. With my family, there are always problems and meddling and verbal harassments.

So, here I am with another Christmas when family is suppose to be present in ones life, happiness, love, sharing memories as well as making memories, but, in my life with my family, it is not possible. Am I at a loss? No, my family is at a loss because they don't know how to behave properly and need to learn the meaning of love and family. My family has forced me to separate myself from them due to their inappropriate behaviors. I have come to the descision that they are the ones who will not know my life now or in the future. I don't want to see them, hear from them at all. One would say I am cold, cruel, unforgiving, blah blah blah, but if people knew what they put me as well as us through over the years, there is no place for forgiveness any more. I'm tired. Life is so important to me and when I see people wasting their time to be miserable, I can't be a part of that as sad as it sounds.

Phil and I are together since 1996 and starting another year in our life, another year for adventure, another year to journey through our life. Another year of the unknown. Another year of the unexpected and the unknown. Love always wins in my life. I am the luckiest person to be alive because of Phil entering my life. He's the most important person in this world to me. He's my shining star. Il est l'amour de ma vie, mon étoile qui brille!