That summer was probably the most relaxing of my life. We ate like kings and queens, frolicked on the beach, the kids played volleyball each day and basketball each nite at the house.

At the end of the summer, as promised, Isabella and I sat down to go over the pros and cons of her job prospects. She was leaning toward T. Rowe Price in Baltimore, Maryland. They had offered her a junior analyst position in the equities department covering the health care sector. She would be responsible for analyzing the prospects for "Big Pharma" and the much smaller biotechnology companies. She was excited about the latter; as covering the prospects for Pfizer and Viagra as opposed to the up-and-coming prospects to squash cancer and Parkinson's disease as medicine progresses, this was much more her speed.

I on the other hand, thought she would be a perfect fit for Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. She would have the opportunity to build a business from the ground up. And if she was asked to be a part of a team of advisors, she would learn at an exponential rate and get paid a very decent living for doing so. Plus, she would have a direct impact on the lives of people, one of her strengths.

During the summer, we had to take a week off to go and find Liam a college. He was interested in private schools. There was the Virginia Military Institute, Middlebury College, Darmouth, Penn, and one public university, the University of Alabama. Roll Tide! Liam was leaning toward Middlebury. It was a small college of less than 3,000 students. I had a preference for VMI.

We visited all five in one week, spending a day at each college. We checked out the dormitory rooms, the library, student activities, met with the baseball coach at each, and met with the advisors in the biology and chemistry departments. In the end, Middlebury would win.

Thankfully, cost would not be an issue, and instead of there being a cost, Liam would have an allowance. I would send him $3,000 monthly that I had hoped he would use wisely. I had already figured that he would spend time in the brew pubs more so that Belle had, but I knew he would be responsible.

I would return to Casa Amor the next summer.

Isabella graduated from William & Mary Summa Cum Laude and at the same time Liam was graduating high school. Each of them were at the top of their class, respectively and were ready to do big things.

Belle had been offered several opportunities. Locally with Dixon Hughes Goodman, and nationally with Price Waterhouse Cooper, Merrill Lynch/Bank of America, T. Rowe Price, the Federal Reserve in Richmond and a private equity firm in Charlotte. It would be a hard decision.

We decided not to decide until the last week at Casa Amor. We left for Casa Amor in late May and would stay until late August. This time, we would spend less time at the beach and more time buzzing around town. The kids were officially grown-ups and wanted to explore a bit. I was proud of Belle. She had focused on her studies and not on boys. That would come much later to mys surprise. Liam would begin dating first, I just had a feeling. Isabella had that "laser focus" that my late husband had for his career.

Even upon reaching Casa Amor, I decided not to reach out to Paul. While we would be in the same geographic location for the next few months, we had not left Disney on the best of terms. While we each had a good time, Paul only once reached out via email and a note in the mail after the holiday. It seemed as if the note and the email were "closing statements" toward the relationship.

It bothered me some, ut in the end, I was glad that I had guarded my heart and myself. I had refrained from giving all of me to him at Disney; and just as I thought, I feared that might make his decision. At any rate, I wanted to see the outcome of that, and if that was how he woud make his decision, I wanted to see it be made.

Circumstances aside, we arrived at Casa Amor. Silvio was thrilled to have me back and he was excited to return to Italy knowing that the house; his home in America, would be taken care of.

Once again, I would not take care of Casa Amor; rather, it would take care of me!