A NEW LIFE BY THE SEA

OUR PIECE OF PARADISE

It was now 2014 and we had sold our house and were planning our move to our beautiful beach front apartment in Spain.

The cosmetic business that Stephanie &I had enjoyed was no longer a viable project as Stephanie had decided to move to Scotland, and we were off the Spain, so we parted company after a fond farewell and both began another new chapter in our lives.

The move from our house in the UK to Spain was fraught with problems. We had already totally furnished our Spanish home, yet we had also had a houseful of furniture and household equipment to dispose of or to take with. We managed to sell most of it but still had a huge van filled with all our possessions booked to drive to Spain.

Once again, my emotions were all over the place, should we be doing this, leaving our precious daughter and grandchildren in the UK. Poor Katie was going through the trauma of a divorce and trying to deal with her emotions, should we stay to help her through it.

Katie did not want us to stay in the UK, she had seen us go through so much stress with business and she tried to explain that by us going to live by the sea without the stress that we had been experiencing, would help her to deal with her situation. She explained that she constantly worried about us and knowing that we would be happy in the Spanish sunshine would help her get through this difficult time.

We knew we were only approx. 2 hours flight away and would be coming back the UK on regular visits, also Katie and the children would be spending every summer with us in Spain for at least 5 weeks, so we reluctantly packed up and left for the sun.

It’s a strange thing that I had never understood how some of my friend’s parents could live in Spain when I was young, after all they didn’t speak the language and why would they want to leave their families and set up their home there. It is not until you spend time on this coast, the Costa Del Sol, that you understand the beauty of the place.

When you visit Marbella and its surrounding towns you will find that most people speak English and there are thousands of expats living there.

When Marbella first became popular with the British, retired couples decided that they had had enough of the English weather and were able to sell their homes and buy new ones for a fraction of the price in Spain. 

Unfortunately, there was a lot of crime on the coast, stories of people like ‘The Great Train Robbers’ hiding on this coast were reported, there was also a lot of money laundering. 

The Arabs had been the first to spend millions on building magnificent villas and homes in Marbella, they also bought beautiful enormous boats which they moored in the famous Peurto Banus, and to this day you will see these fabulous yachts and expensive cars when visiting this port.

After many years of the Arabs predominantly occupying the coast, the Russians then came and invested their money in property. They did not stay as long and in recent years the laws have changed and been enforced. 

Every 10 years or so there is a boom in the property market and you will see huge cranes everywhere building new stunning developments of homes on the beach or in the mountains with incredible views. 

During the time that we have owned our apartment we have seen the property market completely crash and build back up again, when we bought our home in 2002 it was booming on the coast, but it wasn’t long before we saw a crash in the market and the laws become a lot stricter as to where builders were allowed to erect their developments.

There is something about this crazy place that makes you want to be there, whether it’s the holiday season, when you will see thousands of Brits arriving with their children to soak up the Spanish sun or experience the quieter times when the weather is cooler, and the husbands play golf while the wives get together for a delicious Mediterranean lunch in a Chiringuito (beach bar). It’s a relaxed atmosphere and we are so lucky to have made so many friends, and to also get together regularly with old friends who have holiday homes on the coast.

When we first bought our home, we would invite friends and family to come and stay with us regularly, this resulted in a couple of our closest friends, and Tony ‘s sister and her husband, buying homes on our development. As our children produced their children we would find in the summer months that there would be an influx of grandchildren arriving, they have all become firm friends now and every year we enjoy seeing how they have all grown. 

Luckily Rob & Sky have been able to come to visit us every summer for their holiday, so the whole family enjoy 2 weeks together. Its chaos in our 2-bed apartment with the 3 grandchildren sharing the 2ndbedroom and Rob & Katie bedding down in the living room, but we all love it, and Tony and I look away from all the mess and the clothes that pile up all over the place!

In 2014 when we moved I was still actively working my network marketing business with ‘It Works’ because it is an online business and I could work from my lap top anywhere. I recruited some friends to join my team in Spain and before long we were holding ‘wrap parties’ in local hotels and restaurants and having fun. The wonderful thing about my business is that when I am working alongside fellow distributors and attending events it is always great fun.

Once we had finally settled down in our apartment and had done some refurbishment, we decided that we wanted to spend some time with Rob & Sky in Florida. We were getting used the living in the sun and wanted to escape the winter months, even though they were never that cold in Spain.

We spent 3 months with Rob that year, we helped him organise his home, which he was now living in on his own. My motherly instincts kicked in and I cleaned the house and did his laundry for him and painted Sky’s bedroom and kitchen with some help from Tony! 

We also enjoyed a great Xmas with Katie and Harry & Ruby in Disney World sharing a beautiful rented villa. 

We had looked at some property developments near to where Rob was living and loved one in particular which was called ‘Riverstrand Golf & Country Club’, it had great facilities and we decided that we should invest in 2 apartments, renting one out and staying in the other one on future winter trips. We had sold our home in the UK and we funded this investment with the money from our house.

Property in the USA is considerably cheaper than the UK so that was how we were able to purchase both apartments and in August 2015 we were the proud owners of 2 fabulous condos in Sarasota Florida.

I flew over to Florida to sign on the new properties without Tony, as unexpectedly they needed for one of us to be present when the final paperwork was completed, so Tony stayed in Spain with Katie and the children and flew out on another flight in September.

This meant Rob & I ran around furnishing the apartments together and we had the best time! This was something we were, and still are, very good at doing which is spending money!

I couldn’t believe that when you chose furniture they would arrange delivery for the next day! In the UK it would take 6 weeks to have any furniture delivered. Within 2 weeks I had completely furnished both apartments, I had delayed delivery until Tony arrived, so I could be sure he was happy with everything.

It was such an exciting time, the apartments looked fabulous when we had finished and before long we were enjoying all the facilities of the clubhouse at Riverstrand with its restaurants and pools. Tony was playing golf, and that Xmas Katie and the children came and stayed with us for another wonderful holiday.

In 2016 during our next trip to Riverstrand I started to experience excruciating pain in my back and my left leg, the pain shot into my foot and I couldn’t get relief. Being in America I had no idea how I would deal with this problem and I just hoped it would go away. I found a chiropractor who carried out laser treatments and massage etc. Nothing seemed to help and eventually after calling an ambulance when the pain was so bad, and being given morphine to relieve it, I was advised to get an MRI.

Thank goodness we had travel insurance and the company were brilliant, they immediately agree to pay any costs involved with treatment which helped to relieve my stress.

I continued with the treatment with the chiropractor and arranged to get an MRI, but first I had to keep a very important date.

We had booked a trip to Las Vegas that year to see Andrea Bocelli in concert, there was no way I wasn’t going, with or without pain. I dosed up and hobbled through the airport to board the plane using my adrenaline to make the trip. The excitement helped me to try and forget the pain and discomfort, we stayed in the fabulous Cosmopolitan Hotel on the famous strip and had the most amazing time.

I was living on very strong painkillers and when we returned back to Florida I finally had the MRI that would reveal a cyst that had appeared on my spinal nerve. The chiropractor had requested the scan and was the one to deliver the news, he said that it must be dealt with by a Neurosurgeon and that there was nothing else they could do to help relieve the pain.

I scoured the internet looking for neurosurgeons who specialised in this condition. I learned as much as I could about condition discovering that it was quite common to get these cysts as we age, but mine was sitting on a nerve which created a problem.

I finally found a surgeon who had a fantastic resume and reputation, and who specialised in delicate spinal surgery and went to see him. He immediately explained the severity of the condition and explained that if it wasn’t removed very quickly it would cause a condition called ‘drop foot’ where the nerves in the foot become damaged and I would be dragging my foot when I walked. I was petrified and proceeded to book the surgery for the 2ndJanuary with trepidation. 

By this time Katie & the children had arrived for their annual trip and I really did not want to spoil their time with us. I was determined to enjoy the Xmas holidays and tried to hide my fear from the family. I knew how serious this surgery was and should anything go wrong I could be paralysed. Even though I had researched the surgeon religiously and had done all my homework, I was still in a relatively strange country away from friends and relatives who would have given me personal recommendations. 

Katie and the children were not coming until after Xmas day that year, they were spending Xmas day with their dad and coming to stay with us afterwards. Rob & I decided that we would drive to Miami and surprise my sister who was throwing a party with friends to celebrate Xmas day. I was able to drug myself up to help the pain for the 4-5 hr drive and Rob dressed up in the snowman’s suit we had bought to make it even more fun. We parked nearby to my sister’s house and waited until all her guests arrived then we crashed the party and had a wonderful night celebrating with my sister.

After a great time with Katie and the kids spending New Years Eve on the beach watching fireworks it was time for them to leave and for me to prepare for the surgery. 

I was petrified but could not believe how quickly the surgery was done. I went into the hospital at 6.30am and was home by 10.30 after an anaesthetic. The surgeon was amazing and removed the cyst from my spine and within days I was up and about and so very grateful that I was no longer in pain.

We have continued to make these winter trip to be with Rob & Sky for the past 2 years, and during that time we sold our second condo as we decided we would take advantage of the currency exchange. Rob lived in our apt while he rented and then eventually sold his marital home and last year he finally moved into a beautiful new house with a separate bedroom suite for us when we visit, so the next step will be to sell our main apartment and move on to another business or investment…after all that’s what I do!!!

I hope you have all enjoyed my blogs, I really enjoyed giving you all a synopsis of my life so far. I am sure there will be lots more exciting things to come because life must be lived to the full, as you can see from my story none of us know what is around the corner.

I hope that by helping others through my experiences I can at least prove that its never too late to experiment with new ideas and businesses in fact right now my sister & I are embarking on yet another new idea which we hope to launch very soon…so WATCH THIS SPACE!!

Thank you for your lovely comments and for taking the time to read my story, I promise I will be back very soon, meanwhile my message to you all is 

1)   ENJOY EVERY DAY….AND KEEP THAT ‘GLASS HALF FULL’

2    NEVER LOOK BACK EXCEPT TO CHERISH ALL YOUR PRECIOUS MEMORIES 

3)   NEVER WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE, JUST LIVE EVERY DAY TO THE FULL. 

4)   LIFE IS SO VERY PRECIOUS SO GRAB EVERY OPPORTUNITY WITH BOTH HANDS

5)   NEVER FORGET TO SAY, ‘THANK YOU’ FOR WHAT YOU HAVE

Have a wonderful year ahead, dear friends.