A Tale of Two Cats
Home Exchange Blog
ExchangeHomes heard last week from long-time member “Marylee”, who was eager to tell us she had just completed her twenty-fifth home exchange. What’s so special about that you may ask, to which we would reply - everything!
Marylee joined ExchangeHomes.com back in January 1996. She lived in Atlanta, Georgia and was dreading the impending disruption to her day to day living promised by the upcoming Summer Olympic Games. She wanted to leave Atlanta for the entire month of July and first week of August, but her retirement income put hotels and rental properties way beyond her budget.
She had read articles on home exchanging a couple of times and she phoned us wanting to know more. We talked for what must have been thirty minutes, but at the end of that first conversation she was far from convinced that turning over her home, her car, and her beloved cat, Tigger to the care of a complete stranger for more than a month was a good idea.
A week later she called again. The lure of escaping the Olympic razzmatazz was clearly tugging just as hard, but her reservations remained. We were all touched by a new thought that had occurred to her – while she was anxious to get well away from Atlanta, there were quite probably many other people equally as anxious to be there, to be part of it. Maybe (as she put it), she should stop letting her uncertainties prevent someone else from enjoying themselves.
At that point she still didn’t join, in fact several weeks passed before we heard from Marylee again. Her third call to us was at the beginning of March and its timing was almost uncanny; we had just opening the incoming mail and in it was a new membership from a couple in New England who were seeking an exchange to Atlanta DURING THE SUMMER OLYMPICS!
To cut a long story short, when Marylee heard that she could spend the duration of the Olympics sitting on a beach on Cape Cod she was sold. She joined our home exchange organization, contacted the members in Dennis Port, and after several phone calls, exchange of photographs and long letters, made a firm commitment.
A week later she got cold feet and started phoning daily with a wide scenario of “what ifs”. We began to despair of her; the idea of home exchanging always raises many questions and doubts from new participants, but Marylee imagined more possible situations of disaster than could be humanly possible.
Then an idea struck me. What if she first tested the waters with a “quickie” weekend exchange to a location much closer to home? Next Monday morning when she phoned (as expected), I put the idea to her and, surprise, surprise, she jumped at it. She searched the listings and contacted fellow members in Miami, New Orleans, and Virginia Beach and eventually arranged a Friday through Sunday exchange with a lady in New Orleans
We awaited the outcome with bated breath. Marylee had become a part of our day to day lives and the success of her very first home exchange was as important to us as it was to her. Marylee just HAD to enjoy her springtime trip to Louisiana
She did. Her next phone call was full of praise for her exchange partner. She sent us pictures of the Mississippi scenery she had enjoyed and began planning her trip to Cape Cod in a new-found, positive frame of mind.
That was eleven years ago. Marylee completed her “Olympic Exchange”, as she called it, and subsequently her entire life seemed revolve around home exchange vacationing – she’s either away somewhere exploring a new found corner of the world, or at home planning to do so.
Abroad, she’s been to England, Scotland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Mexico and Canada. Within the US she’s exchanged with Louisiana, Massachusetts, Florida (several times), California, Washington, Hawaii (several times), Wisconsin, Texas and Arizona.
Tigger passed away three years ago and Marylee didn’t plan on replacing him until she met Bailey a stray cat her exchange partners in Florida had been feeding. It had been love at first sight and he flew home to Atlanta with her.
Marylee is well into her seventies, we’ve never met her, but we love receiving her phone calls and we hope to continue hearing of her adventures for years to come.
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