October 16, 2012. Jackson, Mississippi. A True Story.

Once upon a time, many years ago,  Dave and Irene, along with two of their teen aged children Wendy and Kenny, came to spend Christmas with us in our home in Kensington, Maryland.    Our boys were young but old enough to play tennis and behave properly in good restaurants.   I suggested that we all spend a few days after Christmas at the Greenbrier in West Virginia, an elegant resort with tennis courts and excellent food.

  By then we four adults owned jointly our first farm in Pennsylvania.  Ken and I wanted country property and we could not afford it so Dave and Irene graciously agreed to pay half, with the understanding that,  when Ken and I could afford it, we would buy them out, which is what happened.  Now the first farm house was not rustic, it was primitive.

Wendy and Kenny were invited to the resort but decided not to accompany us to this most elegant resort.  They decided to go to the farm by themselves, which is what they did.  The place had one running tap in the kitchen, no heat anywhere in the house, with an outhouse thirty yards away.   They were happy campers when they headed out while we went south into the lap of luxury.  They slept wearing wool hats, it was so cold.

When we all got together at our house and Wendy and Kenny saw the pictures and heard the stories,   they were struck dumb.   To this day, they remind us that we did not tell them an accurate account of the resort prior to the visit, which was true because it was the first time we had visited the resort ourselves.  Now we know better, and so do they.   Today we all laugh about the decision they made, all those years ago.