[ HomeBasedTravelAgent.com ] [ CruiseReviews.com ] [ PortReviews.com ] [ Cruise-Chat.com ]
 |
|
CruiseReviews.com
PortReviews.com
Cruise-Chat.com
Submit a Review
Tom and
Mary Milano
TomandMaryMilano@Yahoo.com
Just months after we were married Mary & I decided to ask my Mother to come live
with us. She was 72, living alone in the same home where she raised five
children. My father had passed away five years earlier and she was lonely and
depressed. Before she agreed to come live with us, she tried us for a month, to
see how she got along with Mary. Needless to say, she fell in love with Mary and
moved in with us.
My father was a workaholic and never took her on a vacation. He was from the old
Italian school that believed a wife’s purpose in life was to serve her husband
in every possible way and that is exactly what my mother did for her entire
married life. At the age of 72 she had never been out of New Your State or flown
in a plane. We wanted to do something for her that would pick up her spirits and
give her something to look forward too. After much thought Mary & I came up with
a way of doing that, which not only changed my mother’s life, but has taught us
one of life’s great lessons. “We are happiest when we have something to look
forward too.”
The first Christmas we gave her a present of a trip to upstate New York with a
Catholic church woman’s group. The trip was by bus and chaperoned by a priest
who took care of the tipping and all the incidentals, so that the women didn’t
have anything to do but enjoy themselves. But the important aspect of giving her
this present wasn’t the trip itself but that it wasn’t until June. My mother had
five full months to look forward to her first vacation. She was so excited. A
day didn’t go by that she didn’t talk about it with Mary. As each month went by,
she got even more excited. Well, to make a long story short she had a wonderful
time and we knew we had found the answer on how to make her happy, “Give her
something to look forward to.”
When she arrived home, we had a big dinner celebrating her return and at the end
of dinner we told her we were giving her another trip for the following January.
(The trips were all under the auspices of the Catholic church and were
relatively inexpensive.) We continued giving her a gift of a trip, always six
months in advance. For the next twelve years, this women who had not been out of
New York State, made trips all over the United States, Canada and Europe.
Because of my Mary’s loving tender care and my mother always having something to
look forward too, she had a wonderful life and lived to the age of ninety-four.
It was only recently that we realized we are doing the same thing for ourselves
as we did for my mother by always having a cruise booked in advance, having
something special to look forward too. Although we have made twenty-six cruises,
we still find ourselves talking about our upcoming cruise with as much interest
and excitement as if it was our first. We find this lesson of life, of making it
a point of always having something to look forward too, doesn’t just apply to
cruising but to every aspect of our life. If you want to add a new positive
dimension to your life, plan on always having something special that you can
look forward too. You will be astonished at the effect it will have on your
everyday life.
Tom & Mary Milano
TomandMaryMilano@Yahoo.com
Ever thought of becoming a part time or home based travel agent? Follow this link to see some of the books Tom Ogg has authored.
