Three Rights Make a Left

by

In May, I am scheduled to go to a conference in Tampa, Florida for a few days. The problem is that my wife Lori has something on her schedule and can’t go with me. So, it occurred to me to ask my brother Shawn to accompany me to the conference and stay a few days later. As you may recall my brother is mentally challenged from the time he was born, and there is something he has talked about almost since the time he was old enough to talk. He has always wanted to go to Disneyworld. I have already made air reservations and booked a place to stay and, in a few weeks, Shawn will be able to cross a big thing off of his bucket list.

The plan is to spend a few days in Tampa at the conference, then go to Orlando. I’m thinking that The Magic Kingdom is a must for him to see for a day. I thought about Epcot for one of the other two days we have there, but I think he would probably enjoy a couple of days at Universal Studios more than Epcot.

It has been twenty-five or thirty years since we took our kids to Orlando, and I am sure a lot has changed since then. I have booked reservations at a hotel that is less than a mile from the West entrance to Disneyworld because I am trying not to rent a car. My son Kaleb took his family for a couple of days at Universal Studios recently, and they stayed at a resort nearby. He told me that there was a “Water Taxi” stop near the resort that they stayed at and that sounds like a pretty good option. He said that Uber fares were really expensive, but that might have been because there were a lot of people in his group, while this trip will just be Shawn and I and it might not be that bad.

I’m reminded that years ago, when my son Kaleb was only about nine years old, we stayed at a Hampton Resort in Kissimmee, Florida as part of a much longer trip that included Ft. Lauderdale and a drive to the Key West.

Of course, we had fishing gear in the van, and when the kids saw a good size lake in the middle of the resort, they asked the person at the desk if they could go fishing in the lake. To which the nice attendant said: “Of course.”

Kaleb couldn’t wait to get a hook in the water to try to catch one of the huge Grass Carp that cruised near the surface just in view. It didn’t take long at all before a huge fish grabbed his hook and the fight was on. Kaleb skillfully battled the big fish for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, he got it alongside the bank. He held his rod tip high and reached down to grab the big fish by the gills. As it turned out the fish still had one last fight left in him. He arched his big tail hard and threw up a huge flood of water all over Kaleb drenching him from head to toe. And with that, the big fish broke the line and was gone leaving Kaleb dripping wet, with a big smile and a great story. We reminded him that Florida “Deep Sea Fishing” rules dictate that if you can touch the leader before you release the fish, it’s counted as a catch. Kaleb had done more than that; he actually touched the fish.