Happy Friday, All!
I hope it’s cool with youse to do a little “T.G.I.F.” thing up in here! TGIF! There it is!
How do “you” know that something is “just for you”? Things that you “know” are just for you usually come directly from the Creator, perhaps via some of his angels. I know, because it’s happened to me, more so now than before, though I know that “it” was happening. I’d like to call it that “divine gift” that NO ONE can take away from you!
First of all, the third manuscript is coming along just fine. I just finished Chapter 9 and started the tenth one. Just so you know, the book has nothing to do with where I am, Puerto Viejo, Limon, Costa Rica. But, it has everything to do with how I got here … you know, retired and all and able to take care of myself. The last place that I was describing in the manuscript was the time I spent in Amsterdam two years ago! Some cool memories and I’m just trying to “paint a picture” of what it looks like to be a “brother” who was bussed to elementary school in a suburb of New York City, attended a private all-boys (initially) Episcopalian boarding school on an academic scholarship, went on to Princeton University on a “work-study” package and so on and so on … until I got here! Can you say “miracle” with me? Hey, I got enough gratitude for most of us!
Last week, I was in Ft. Lauderdale for a business trip. I had to check the mailbox for Educational Excellence which I still maintain at the main post office in Ft. Lauderdale on Oakland Park Boulevard. I also had been trying to budget so I could go to Ft. Lauderdale, get a new laptop, perhaps a new pair of glasses and contact lenses, and some smaller items from Walmart. My friend, Johnny Ace whose home I stay at whenever in the FTL, had told me that “Best Buy” outlets may have laptops still on sale from Labor Day in the States. I went there, the prices were too high, I had to buy a new cellphone there since I left the one I came with in the Uber driver’s car, I got back to Johnny’s and got set to go to my favorite dance club in Ft. Lauderdale – “Capone’s”! I had a blast seeing so many friends that I used to hang out with until I retired from “clubbing”!
The next day was spent getting my old phone back from a very kind Uber driver who actually met to return it to me personally. More gratitude and now two cell phones … one 3g and one 4g! I ran a few more errands and hit CVS Pharmacy where Johnny later picked me up and we went to Walmart. We “window shopped” there for a computer, found a nice Hewlett Packard for $300.00 and returned with some snacks and goodies to eat for a few days for me. The next morning, I got up early and walked across the street to Walmart, charged the HP on my Capital One card, got a brief yet thorough explanation and configuration of the product by a young Jamaican “buck”, purchased an additional “thumb drive” and laptop carrying case and headed back to Johnny’s!
I also picked up some Prilosec for my acid reflux, some vitamin C tablets and a few other items for my health and beauty! There, I said it. THAT is another reason that I decided to retire here in Puerto Viejo … have the best quality of life possible … and finish the third manuscript! Right about now, I am firing on all cylinders in a most serene way! The gratitude to the universe and my Creator often oozes from my pores.
Carry on, have a great weekend and stay in “close touch” with yourself, the universe and the Creator!
Peace,
John I. Cook, Director
Educational Excellence 