A head scratcher!

It was a head scratching day recently and that captivated my waking thoughts like a max security prison. I'll admit that the reasons are particular to me, in general, and that many, many others have "bigger fish to fry", but that doesn't lessen the impact they have had on my mind. Both issues were directly birthed from choosing to vacation in southern Florida at my mother's condo in Naples.

Issue #1
If you're going to travel far from home, it goes without saying that you're going to be faced with concerns surrounding how you will choose to access the funds you so carefully squirrelled away to afford the trip. After seeking advice from a variety of sources, we opted for opening a simple chequing account in an American bank that has a relationship with our bank back in Canada. Setting up the account proved to be  small challenge, not because we were in a different country, but because the young lady assisting us was Spanish-first language and made a simple mistake when spelling my name, and that led to a number of multi-minute "muzak" sessions as we sought conversations with head office to fix the issue. You'd think that it wouldn't be all that bad, and logically you'd be justified in that thinking, but not so much in this case because that one single substitution led to a profound delay in both accessing and manipulating our funds. 

Besides the extended time it took to open the account, thanks largely to the duplication of all the steps to correct the aforementioned spelling error, a few issues that arose as we tried to use our new account, each adding annoying little pangs to frustration. 

One was 95% my fault. After filling out the forms, setting up the account, making the debit card, and consequently redoing all of these steps thanks to the error, I neglected to take the debit card with me when I finally left, requiring a return trip the next day. Sure, the young lady could have noticed that the corrected card was still sitting in the card maker, but neither of us did. Oh well. Ultimately, with both of us being negligent, it also meant that the first time using the card was an event since we also neglected to set up the PIN. Fortunately, the iPhone app for that bank made it easy to do this online ... easy, peasy, lemon squeezey. 

The second was the lowest levels of angst, initially, but then over-thinking me heaped a bunch on myself as a consequence. The whole idea of using the bank we chose, as stated above, was the existing relationship they had with our bank back in Canada covering the wire transfer costs to move money from our US account back home to the one in Naples. While the process worked quickly and efficiently, I was a little put off by how easy it was, and spent a few minutes worrying about that. I am pleased to admit that I was able to dismiss those worries quickly. 

The third stemmed from the issues we encountered thanks to the main reason for opening the account in the beginning; we wished to be able to transfer US funds to my mom as we jointly stocked the condo with treats, purchased a US sim card, paid for guest passes for Pelican Bay's beaches, and repaid her for the costs associated on the trip down. Apparently the US, or at least our bank, doesn't use e-transfers to send funds electronically like we do in Canada, opting instead for an app attached to most banks. When we did a test transfer ... weren't we being smart ... the system put a hold on the transaction because of the new account, the issues with the name change, the PIN being reset, and now the e-transfer. That was all on a Friday which prompted everything being paused until we were sure the process worked, likely waiting until the following week. At the time of this writing, we're still waiting. 

Issue #2
When you choose to vacation, you choose to leave things back home on hold, that goes without saying. During normal times that would include prepping the condo for an extended absence, working out the details for funds, and making sure your loved ones are aware of said plans. 

Unfortunately, these are not normal times.

The tranquility of our first few days were interrupted by a call from our son who was back in Guelph. You need to know that recently he's not been very nice to his body with a few accidents directly related to working on major diesel vehicles, all requiring some medical intervention ... nothing major, but concerning, none the less. When the phone signalled he was calling, we both immediately thought, "Uh oh!" We're happy ... HAPPY? ... to report that it wasn't another self-inflicted injury, but that he and his GF were exposed to Omicron when they visited with his former room mates. The most consternating part of the story was they planned ahead and everyone took a rapid test the day before, all registering as negative. Despite the precautions, one of his old roomies started to show symptoms the following day, and fears were confirmed with a positive test. As the days passed both KP and his GF started to display symptoms, leading to a full week of work missed, and we were very happy to hear that while they both felt under the weather, neither felt terrible. 

Our tranquility was disrupted again with a phone call from Joyce's mom, Pearl, with news that she also had been exposed to Omicron while visiting her friends for her weekly bridge date. It turns out that one of the ladies who was recovering from a cardiac procedure had tested positive, I would guess from one of her follow-up visits, and being asymptomatic, felt she was safe to visit with her friends. The ensuing isolation period will be no fun at all for Pearl, and it certainly concerns us since we're a long way from her. Thankfully, our daughter Maddison and hubby Chris are more than willing to make the trip to offer any required assistance. My son's experience with Omicron as a benchmark, we hope that she comes through it as comfortable as possible, but only time will tell.

A casual glance out the window reveals another "crappy day in paradise" with a cloudless sky, a comfortable breeze lofting through the open windows, and a very pleasant temperature. We really are blessed to be able to experience such a Shangri-La thanks to my mother's generosity. Our banking issues will soon be in the rearview mirror and eventually our loved ones will get through their Omicron issues, then we'll settle back into our groove.

I've said it before, but Life is Good!