Returning To Stuart

It has been over 5 years since I was last in Stuart, Florida, and even longer than that for my sister.  My parents (seen in the photograph above) retired there in 1976, and my mother lived happily down there almost another 25 years after my father passed away.  My sister Susan and I are heading there this week to check out the condo, which we have been renting out to a tenant until now.  This condo was the last place we were all together as a family, and so the visit will have a lot of emotional impact.  Hopefully it will be a good trip, despite having to travel with only a small backpack in order to avoid exorbitant baggage fees. Let's face it - it is a different world from the 1970s, and not necessarily a better one.