Friday, December 16, 2005

When Life Gives You Lemons...

It must be the snow, but all I can do lately is think of other places. A few years ago I went to St. Lucia. I went to my first "All Inclusive" Resort, LeSport.

I had to leave for the airport at 4:00 in the morning. I had my passport in my carry on, but for some reason, I left my wallet on my dresser.

I didn't realize that I had forgotten my wallet until I got to Puerto Rico. Dag! I had no money. I mean not one dollar. All of my cash and credit cards were at home in Pennsylvania sitting on my dresser.

I was going to be there for 10 days, thankfully the resort had complimentary shuttle service. I figured I could survive until my parents could wire me my money.

I made a collect call to my parents, and they said they would wire me the money. I gave them all of the instructions. Everyday I waited. No money. I called again on day five, my parents said "No! We are not going to wire you the money, it's too much trouble." It was my money, and they couldn't be bothered to drive ten minutes to the Western Union.

I was sad that I couldn't leave the resort to explore the island. I had no money to go anywhere. It wasn't too bad because I got to snorkel and do water sports. All the meals were already paid for, and the resort included two spa treatments per day, so I wasn't exactly roughing it.

It came time to go home. I took the complimentary shuttle back to the airport, gave the driver a smile and explanation of why he was not getting a tip.

When I went to the airport to check in, they wanted me to pay a Departure Tax! I didn't know you had to pay tax to leave the country.

I tried to sell her my jewelry. I was desperate, and I started to panic! I cursed my parents under my breath.

There was a woman in line behind me that had all of these huge drums and cases. She came up to me to ask what was wrong. I told her I didn't have money to leave the country. She pulled out a $20 bill and handed it to me. And said "keep it, you should not have to travel without money".

I asked her for her address so I could return her money when she got home. She said "no, you keep it." We started to talk while we waited to board the plane. I asked her what was with all the drums and equipment. She said "they are my son in laws. He and my daughter have the children and I wanted to help them by taking some of the equipment home." I said, "Oh, who's your son in law, would I know him?"

She said, "Paul Simon" I got so excited! I said you're "Edie Brickell's
Mom?" I love her! The other people there didn't know who Edie Brickell was, but everybody knew who Paul Simon is. I told her, I can't believe Edie Brickell's Mom, Paul Simon's mother in law gave me 20 bucks!"

I thanked her profusely. Even before I knew who she was, I couldn't stop thanking her.

Then I wasn't so mad at my parents anymore. I wouldn't have met such a lovely woman or had a cool story to tell if I had normal parents.

1 comments:

Deanna said...

You make me laugh. Can you squirt some lemon juice in my Mom's eye for me? Just kidding!

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