All about Us

We are originally from Virginia and have been married for over 27 years.  We met when we both worked for the Federal government.

Both divorced, we married in 1982, had a blended family of three kids and three cats.  Two months after we were married, Frank got a job offer from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which he accepted and we all moved to Cuba where we lived for 4-1/2 of the best years of our lives! 

It was beautiful, although not tropical as you might imagine, but more desert-like, low humidity most of the time and average temperatures of between 75 and 80 degrees year-round.  We were young enough to enjoy taking many R&R trips to Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, BWI and also a couple of practice "evacuation" trips to Jacksonville, Florida for days of eating, shopping and partying with friends who lived there. 

We had a barrel boat ("The Caribbean Queen"), got our dive  certifications, did lots of fishing, collected starfish and shells (which we still have) in the Guantanamo Bay.  We spent many a morning on our boat, in the Bay, with a line in the water, watching the sun come up, drinking Bloody Marys and eating Scotch Eggs.  What followed was all day fishing, eating and drinking and not coming into the pier until dark and then not wanting the day to ever end.   Our fondest memories ever are from when we lived in Cuba and we feel blessed to have been there when we were (1982-1987).

When it came time to leave Cuba, Frank got a job in Myrtle Beach, SC (1987-1992) where we lived for five years.  Again, great jobs, lovely place to live, made wonderful friends there, bought a home and remodeled it, had everything just like we wanted it and boom!  Myrtle Beach Air Force Base was on the Base Closure list, so that meant yet another move. 

We decided to apply for something in the southwest, since neither of us had ever been further west than Oklahoma.  Lo and behold, we got El Paso, TX.  We were excited about it and took a house hunting trip (with the best flight connections, it still took ALL day to get there from SC).  Bad news, the housing market out west was way out of sight for a comparable property like we had in Myrtle Beach!  Long story short, we transferred there in June 1992, bought a house, remodeled it completely in under two years and in April of 1994 came the Government's offer of "Early Retirement".  Oh boy!  Did Frank ever jump at that!  He had the time, but not the age, but he took it anyway and we made the long move from Texas to the Outer Banks of North Carolina where Frank went into business with a friend who was stationed with us in Cuba.  We bought a house and took a long time remodeling it. 

Fast forward, lived 10+ years in the Outer Banks then decided it was getting so expensive to live there (taxes and insurance), we knew we couldn't ever retire there, so we bought 10+ acres inland in my Dad's birthplace, Gates County, NC in 2003, sold our house at the beach in 2004 and moved to the COUNTRY! 

And that is how we ended up with "Lil Bits of Heaven".  Watching deer in the distance, collecting fresh eggs everyday, seeing the births of our goats' kids, (assisting in deliveries that would have turned out badly had we not been there) well, there's just nothing like it.  We feel so fortunate to live here at this stage in our lives and to have the good health and energy to keep up this active lifestyle.  It makes us very happy, indeed.  We have experienced a quiet peacefulness since we moved to "GC, God's Country, Gates County, North Carolina", where on any given day, we experience "Lil Bits of Heaven".