Timeshare Tales

This past year my wife and I celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary. This woman is the first and only woman I ever dated - (we were high school sweethearts). Now, 25 years later, we are more in love than ever. We've been through so much together - raising kids, death of parents, health problems - all the stuff of life. That kind of mileage can either cause your marriage to erode or to blossom. Fortunately, ours blossomed.

So, this past June we decided to celebrate our 25^th with a 'Renewal of Vows' ceremony before 75 of our closest family and friends (many of whom were there at the start of it all). My wife looked radiant, walking down the aisle of the outdoor garden path, bouquet of flowers in hand, to the sound of Andrea Bocelli. The day was a perfect one - clear skies after days of rain - and our vows, which we kept a secret from each other, really captured the essence of our love and our life together. The highlight for me was surprising her with a three-stoned "yesterday, today and forever" diamond ring on her finger during the reciting of our vows.

Following our renewal we took off to one of our all-time favorite timeshare resorts - Casa Del Mar, in Aruba - with NO KIDS. We spent the week resting on the beach, going for long sunset walks, watching turtles hatch on the beach and find their way to the ocean. We even got to go on a sunset dinner dance harbor cruise.

The week was even more deeply meaningful than our honeymoon! (We were just a couple of 22 and 23 year old kids back then.) So, when we returned from our second honeymoon we both left a part of our hearts back on the shore of Aruba.

(This next part is really out of character for me - I'm not normally this spontaneous.) When we returned home to New Jersey, I took another look at the Holiday Group e-mail that was still sitting in my "inbox". To my amazement, the very property we just stayed at was now being offered at an incredible discount. We had priced a unit when we were at the resort - it was way out of our budget.

Wanting to keep the glow of our 25^th getaway alive for the rest of our life together, I contacted Holiday. One week later we were the proud owners of a timeshare at the Casa Del Mar. My wife was overwhelmed with joy…and I'm already thinking about what it will be like to celebrate the next 25 years with the girl of my dreams.