R&R&Ring in Myrtle Beach, SC

Dave and I are Resting, Relaxing and Retreating at Myrtle Beach. It’s been nice. The weather has been balmy for the most part. After our Norfolk visit with our friend, Lucy, it was nice to continue here for the balance of our trip. Unfortunately, I contracted, what appears to be, a cold. So, the resting and relaxation is really helpful. I seldom get sick so it really bothers me that my resistance was this low. I guess I needed this break more then I realized.

After arriving on Monday evening, I didn’t have a very restful night. It was one of those nights between the cold that was coming on and my mind not wanting to turn off for the night. It doesn’t happened often, but when it does, I usually feel really sluggish the next day. Tuesday, as I expected, I wasn’t feeling great, but not really all that bad, either. So, with the beautiful weather outside, a gorgeous blue sky and ocean and sandy beach, it seemed fitting to take a walk. That walk turned out to be a 6-7 mile walk to the other end of Myrtle Beach to pick up some local travel information at the local AAA office. Normally, I could have made the trek back to the hotel on foot, but not this time. While the walk was energizing, it also drained me of the energy that I needed to fight this cold off. Ultimately, I may have done myself more harm then good. All of a sudden, after a nice lunch, my energy was gone - totally. Of course, not getting any real rest the night before played into this scenario. We called a taxi to get us back to the hotel and my cold proceeded to get worse from there. I took care of a few business things I needed to handle when I got back to the room and then pretty much crashed and burned for the night.

I did get some rest, but still not a very restful night, on Tuesday night. Wednesday was a totally down day. The cold was blossoming and I had all the symptoms - running nose, sneezing, headache, chills and aching all over. I decided to stay in the room all day and rest, relax and work on some of the things I wanted to get done on my personal retreat time. I got some things done, but mostly, I was laid out in the bed most of the day. Dave took a little excursion during the day.

Wednesday evening was New Years Eve, but neither Dave nor I had any plans to do any wild partying. I finally felt good enough to go out for some dinner. This was Dave’s and my “Last Supper.” We both are carrying around excess baggage in the form of body fat. We’re both feeling that weight slowing us down. So, we both agreed that we had to lose a predetermined amount of weight by the end of six months. As it worked out, it’s virtually the same amount of weight we plan to lose. Dave’s method is the Weight Watchers program. It’s worked for him before. My plan is to change my lifestyle - eat better, eat less and exercise more - quite a bit more. So, off we went for some of Tony Roma’s barbecued ribs. The ribs were good and after the meal, we both felt like were ready for the challenge.

Back at the hotel, the two of us had a hard time staying awake to bring in the New Year with a very sad image of Dick Clark on ABC about four years after his stroke. The new year rang in and we crashed. This was certainly an inauspicious end to 2008, a year that leaves bittersweet feelings - the economy crashed, all kinds of fraud, an historical election with a campaign that went on too long and . . . I made my biggest move to date in living and working free as I became “happily homeless” and got through the stress of THE major down-sizing of my life.

Enthusiastically,
Ed