We "shopped until we dropped" for two days. We had booked a room at The Christmas Inn. And there were plenty of restaurants to enjoy as well. Paula Deen has just opened a $20M complex close by, so we had to try her fare. It certainly did not disappoint.
Belle mostly bought clothes for work; and I on the other hand, bought clothes that made me look like I was in my forties as opposed to my sixties. I wondered if I would ever find love again, and Isabella and I talked about this in a "running discussion" over the next four days.
The days would go too fast. In Charlotte, we stayed at the Aloft hotel. Trendy and new, it was a little psychedelic for me, but Isabella usually had a reservation at Aloft in whatever city she was traveling to as she met with CEO's and CFO's around the country to discuss their current and future operations. I could tell that she was going to hugely successful at T. Rowe Price in Baltimore.
We talked about the city she lived in. She enjoyed going to Orioles baseball game and was typically given tickets by the firm at least once every two weeks. There was a little bar close to the ballpark; Pickles, that she frequented and there was also Fells Point nearby. This was a slew of bars that one could "hop" around during the evening, and my little Isabella loved to dance. She had come to like this activity very much. There wasn't much of it at William & Mary, in the way of things to do, and she mostly focused on her studies during her time there.
In Charlotte, she somehow got me to go dancing. I felt too old to go, but at the same time I realized that Belle and I would not have this opportunity to really bond all that often in the future. I decided to "roll the dice", and I tagged along. I "dressed to the nines" so as not to embarrass her. Not slutty, but mildly inappropriate for my age. I was going for that forties look again. Prior to going to a club, we had eaten dinner at Bentley's. This was the higlight of the evening for me and the dancing for Belle.
I managed to stay out till 1:00 AM, and had to cash it in. Bella stayed behind, as she was talking to a private equity guy; a young fellow of thirty and a little more mature than Belle, but they seemed to create a bond. I was happy for her; and more happy when she returned to Aloft alone.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Friday, October 3, 2014
Spring had sprung, and it had been a long time since I had done something for myself.
I wanted Isabella to join me, so I asked her o drive home for the weekend the first weekend in March. What were we going to do? None other than shop until we dropped.
We would spend two days in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and two days in Charlotte, North Carolina, and she would return to Baltimore Tuesday and resume work on Wednesday.
The flowers we starting to think about blooming and I sat on the front porch. She arrived that Thursday night around 4:00 PM. I was excited to see her and the first thing we did was to put on a cup of tea. Sitting on Adirondack chairs on the front porch, we talked about her life in Baltimore. She was having a very successful working career to this point, and was happy. She would still be a "new" analyst for several years, but she was already making a large introduction with the fund managers. A few good picks over a five year run can make their career. And it was Belle's job to make that happen.
I was still not getting out. The prompt end to my relationship with Paul was like a karate chop to the throat. It made me not want to date. Surely men of my age would understand that I would not be willing to simply throw myself at them...or did they? The times had changed, and I wholeheartedly believed they were not for the better. I feared for Isabella and Liam; Belle more so, but each of them were young, but mature.
I had taken the time to make Isabella her favourite breakfast dish for in the morning. It was a recipe that I inherited from my mother-in-law and one that I will always have on file.
Isabella and I sat on the porch until 11:00 PM. We had watched the neighbors come home from work, the kids in the neighbourhood playing in the street, and had moved onto wine by 6:30 PM. A bottle from southeast Australia; a Viognier from Yalumba, was our first, and then a Cabernet from Mendoza, Argentina; Alamos, would serve as a nite cap.
The maiden voyage that we had taken so many times would start at 5:00 AM. We would be off to Pigeon Forge.
I wanted Isabella to join me, so I asked her o drive home for the weekend the first weekend in March. What were we going to do? None other than shop until we dropped.
We would spend two days in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and two days in Charlotte, North Carolina, and she would return to Baltimore Tuesday and resume work on Wednesday.
The flowers we starting to think about blooming and I sat on the front porch. She arrived that Thursday night around 4:00 PM. I was excited to see her and the first thing we did was to put on a cup of tea. Sitting on Adirondack chairs on the front porch, we talked about her life in Baltimore. She was having a very successful working career to this point, and was happy. She would still be a "new" analyst for several years, but she was already making a large introduction with the fund managers. A few good picks over a five year run can make their career. And it was Belle's job to make that happen.
I was still not getting out. The prompt end to my relationship with Paul was like a karate chop to the throat. It made me not want to date. Surely men of my age would understand that I would not be willing to simply throw myself at them...or did they? The times had changed, and I wholeheartedly believed they were not for the better. I feared for Isabella and Liam; Belle more so, but each of them were young, but mature.
I had taken the time to make Isabella her favourite breakfast dish for in the morning. It was a recipe that I inherited from my mother-in-law and one that I will always have on file.
Isabella and I sat on the porch until 11:00 PM. We had watched the neighbors come home from work, the kids in the neighbourhood playing in the street, and had moved onto wine by 6:30 PM. A bottle from southeast Australia; a Viognier from Yalumba, was our first, and then a Cabernet from Mendoza, Argentina; Alamos, would serve as a nite cap.
The maiden voyage that we had taken so many times would start at 5:00 AM. We would be off to Pigeon Forge.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
If I had picked for both Isabella and Liam, I would have been wrong.
To my surprise they both headed north. Liam to Middlebury College in Vermont, and Belle to Baltimore, Maryland to work as an analyst at T. Rowe Price. I was extremely proud of both.
Liam was going to be going on a full-ride as a student athlete on the baseball team. He had finished his high school career with a .383 batting average and a total of 115 home runs and 482 RBI's. Not bad for someone who started the varsity team as a freshman. He would take his basic level courses and decide on a major later.
Isabella decided not to stay at home in Asheville with Merrill Lynch, and also turned down Jeffrey's offer at the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond. She had opted for an analyst position covering health care and biotechnology at T. Rowe Price. I was concerned about where she might live in Baltimore. While parts of the city are very safe, if you go one street over, trouble looms. We searched for a high-rise apartment with security in the financial district and found one that suited. It was a loft on the fourteenth floor, but it was heavily secured and always watched by camera.
Each of them had a successful fall and winter. Liam had played on a traveling "fall-ball" league until the weather got too cold in late October. Isabella was busy perusing 8K's, 10K's and Annual Reports. When she wasn't at work, she was reading the work of other analysts and doing her own analysis as well. She was up for the challenge, and picked some undiscovered market winners for the quarter ending December 31st.
Each of them came home for the holidays and stayed until January 5th. They each had some time to catch up with friends and we talked about what we would do for the summer. We had all; all three of us, decided we would return to Casa Amor. Isabella had to get permission to work remotely, but she plated-up the idea in such a way to her boss that he agreed. Reluctantly, but positively. Isabella would do some of her best work over the next four years at Casa Amor.
I pondered where they would end up. "Would Isabella return to graduate school and get an MBA or Law degree"? "And what would Liam major in?" These were the thoughts I had regularly at home.
To my surprise they both headed north. Liam to Middlebury College in Vermont, and Belle to Baltimore, Maryland to work as an analyst at T. Rowe Price. I was extremely proud of both.
Liam was going to be going on a full-ride as a student athlete on the baseball team. He had finished his high school career with a .383 batting average and a total of 115 home runs and 482 RBI's. Not bad for someone who started the varsity team as a freshman. He would take his basic level courses and decide on a major later.
Isabella decided not to stay at home in Asheville with Merrill Lynch, and also turned down Jeffrey's offer at the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond. She had opted for an analyst position covering health care and biotechnology at T. Rowe Price. I was concerned about where she might live in Baltimore. While parts of the city are very safe, if you go one street over, trouble looms. We searched for a high-rise apartment with security in the financial district and found one that suited. It was a loft on the fourteenth floor, but it was heavily secured and always watched by camera.
Each of them had a successful fall and winter. Liam had played on a traveling "fall-ball" league until the weather got too cold in late October. Isabella was busy perusing 8K's, 10K's and Annual Reports. When she wasn't at work, she was reading the work of other analysts and doing her own analysis as well. She was up for the challenge, and picked some undiscovered market winners for the quarter ending December 31st.
Each of them came home for the holidays and stayed until January 5th. They each had some time to catch up with friends and we talked about what we would do for the summer. We had all; all three of us, decided we would return to Casa Amor. Isabella had to get permission to work remotely, but she plated-up the idea in such a way to her boss that he agreed. Reluctantly, but positively. Isabella would do some of her best work over the next four years at Casa Amor.
I pondered where they would end up. "Would Isabella return to graduate school and get an MBA or Law degree"? "And what would Liam major in?" These were the thoughts I had regularly at home.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
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.
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!
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!
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
She would start June 15th and the internship would run until September 9th, just before her last year at William & Mary.
Prior to this, she would take a heavy load of economics courses. Isabella mentioned that they were focusing more on theory; and of course, developing their own at the student level. While Isabella's focus was entrepreneurial economics, she was no stranger to the basic tenants of the many theories within the economic space; both past and present.
Her semester was tough. And while Isabella was busy studying, Liam was busy "knocking the ball out of the park"; literally. In eighteen games, he had fifteen home runs and forty runs-batted-in. He was selected for the All-Area All-Star team, and would play traveling baseball that summer. Bella would be hard at work, and Liam hard at play.
It was hard that summer to split my time between traveling baseball and with Belle in Richmond. I did my best to go to Richmond every two weeks, and stay the weekend. Liam had a much busier schedule that kept me on the road. Because of this, I had to relax with Belle on the weekends in Richmond.
We had formed a tradition of having a "Girls Nite Out" on Saturdays. She had developed a taste for craft beer and wine, which was not far from Brady's footsteps. It seemed as though she was following them in lockstep. And not to go unnoticed, she was doing it seamlessly. Liam, too, was doing his very best on the baseball diamond. He typically had averaged one run a game and three RBI's. His batting average was a bit over .400; which is better than many professional players who have ever played the game.
That summer came and went. We were unable to return to Casa Amor. Silvio was additionally saddened that I did not return. Frankly, he had wanted me for a renter that summer because of the care that we had taken with Casa Amor. We gave it love and affection.
Prior to this, she would take a heavy load of economics courses. Isabella mentioned that they were focusing more on theory; and of course, developing their own at the student level. While Isabella's focus was entrepreneurial economics, she was no stranger to the basic tenants of the many theories within the economic space; both past and present.
Her semester was tough. And while Isabella was busy studying, Liam was busy "knocking the ball out of the park"; literally. In eighteen games, he had fifteen home runs and forty runs-batted-in. He was selected for the All-Area All-Star team, and would play traveling baseball that summer. Bella would be hard at work, and Liam hard at play.
It was hard that summer to split my time between traveling baseball and with Belle in Richmond. I did my best to go to Richmond every two weeks, and stay the weekend. Liam had a much busier schedule that kept me on the road. Because of this, I had to relax with Belle on the weekends in Richmond.
We had formed a tradition of having a "Girls Nite Out" on Saturdays. She had developed a taste for craft beer and wine, which was not far from Brady's footsteps. It seemed as though she was following them in lockstep. And not to go unnoticed, she was doing it seamlessly. Liam, too, was doing his very best on the baseball diamond. He typically had averaged one run a game and three RBI's. His batting average was a bit over .400; which is better than many professional players who have ever played the game.
That summer came and went. We were unable to return to Casa Amor. Silvio was additionally saddened that I did not return. Frankly, he had wanted me for a renter that summer because of the care that we had taken with Casa Amor. We gave it love and affection.
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