on holiday with Mama!

You see her, right?
Look under the pink hat, to the left and down from the little waterfall.
Not the whole face and certainly not the sunglasses.
Look at that smile...
100 % Mama.
I was amazed, but not really surprised, to find this evidence that she was with me at the Polynesian Isles.

She had told me, as I was driving down to Kissimmee two weeks ago, that she was always with me on these adventures.
I had been entertaining myself with thought, along with music, as I often do on these drives. After I crossed the Florida state line and had successfully maneuvered through the construction in Jacksonville, I allowed myself to relax a little.
That's when I started thinking about how I was going to be down here alone. My first niece and her husband were supposed to be with me, but DFACS had intervened. I had invited others to share the two-bedroom with me, but had no takers (work conflicts).
That's when I said to myself, "Mama and I were supposed to go traveling the world together after she retired."
And, justthatfast, the response rang out: "I am always with you on these trips."
As soon as I heard it, I realized that was the truth.
She is always with me.
Everywhere I go, in town or away.
If that were not true, how else would I find, everywhere, the pennies that fall from the sky in front of me?
It especially makes sense that she would be with me when I am staying at a "Vacations for a Lifetime" resort.

I met with Christopher Leblanc, a "vacation counselor" for Diamond Resorts, on the 16th. That was my first day at Mystic Dunes on my Silver Sampler.
Due to poor communication skills amongst Diamond Resorts employees, he was unaware that I was there on a sampler. He thought I was there for a sales pitch and had the wrong paperwork with him.
No, I told him, I am already an owner and was there simply to satisfy my obligation with the Silver Sampler package. In return for use of the Sampler to book my stay, I had consented to a meeting with the sales folk. That obligation was my only reason for being in his office.
I emphatically told him that I was not in the market for any more points. I have plenty of points, more than I usually use every year. (No worries, they do not go to waste. I roll them over to the next year.)
He had asked how I had originally come to be a Silver Elite owner with Diamond Resorts.
So I had told him in plain English.
My mother was dying and I wanted something that would make sure I went on a nice vacation every year. Epic Resorts for the answer, especially as it would be transferred to my heirs upon my death.
Then. I told him, Epic was absorbed by Club Sunterra, which subsequently was bought up by Diamond. hence, I was not a Diamond owner by choice, but by happenstance.
I think that was not the answer he expected.
He asked me why I had bought the Silver Sampler if I was already an owner.
I told him the sales crew had been so feverish to sell me 'something, anything, anything at all!', that they had offered the Sampler. It was about the same price as my annual fees, but would net me another 15000 points to use, with zero obligation to buy anything at the end of the Sampler period. Of course I had taken the deal.
That was in mid-December of 2013.
Diamond Resorts International had already announced six months earlier that it was going to go public on the New York Stock Exchange. They were not supposed to sell the Samplers to owners... and yet, there I was, a Silver Elite owner with a Silver Sampler, just six months later.
As I told Christopher, Diamond Resorts should never have sold that to me, especially knowing that they were going public before my Sampler would expire...but they sold it to me anyway.
I think he honestly did not know what to do with me.
So he turned me loose after only fifty minutes.

I repeated my tale to Mindy Santana, another vacation counselor, just three days ago. I was at Crescent Resort at South Beach. I had met with her strictly for the $150 in VISA gift cards, nothing more.
She asked that I not meet with any more sales people. They make no money if I don't buy anything, she told me. I told her to tell the sales people to not call me.
I hope the word spreads for them to leave me alone on my vacations.

Since I used the money from Mama's death to help fund my vacation lifestyle, it's only natural that she travel with me. It's only natural that she lend me the confidence, as well as a polite demeanor, to fight off the pocketbook thieves disguised as "consultants".
I find great solace in that thought.