Mexico March 2023
The year has started off to be quite eventful for us. The first week in January, we attended a fabulous yoga retreat in Costa Rica. Jeff declared he’d never been so relaxed in his life, and believe it or not, he even loved the “Noble Silence” in the mornings with no talking until 10am.
We returned home and Jeff failed a cardiac stress test the next day (had been having some symptoms during the previous few months), so on January 17th he had another cardiac cath procedure and received two additional stents (joining the five that were placed after his heart attack in March 2020). He’s doing well and has already graduated from cardiac rehab (where is was not at all like the other participants).
The rest of January and February found us working with BrightStar to sell our Home Care and Staffing business, a process we started discussing with Shelly last May. As you can imagine, its hard for us to take this step as the business has been such a major piece of our lives for the past 16+ years. Shelly started a company called “BrightStar Owned” or BSO, which is run by a really sharp team that knew nothing about Home Care, but a lot about acquiring companies and streamlining operations. Before acquiring our enterprise, BSO consisted of 21 BrightStar branches located in AL, FL, AZ, TN, SC, Iowa, and of course the original Gurnee branch. We now have eight BSC branches (Madison, Janesville, Baraboo, LaCrosse, Racine, South Milwaukee, Central Milwaukee, and North Milwaukee), so our group will be the lion share of BSO going forward. Shelly has a plan to build BSO so its 20% of the BSC operation. She was very interested in our operation because of the strong culture and leaders that run the day-to-day operation. Our company will be a model for what she envisions that BSO can be. Jeff, Ryan and I will stay close to the business for the next year, acting as advisors to our team and consultants to the BSO directors. While its difficult to step away, the time is right. Considering that we never developed an “exit strategy,” things worked out just like they usually do.
We have realized that selling our BrightStar Care business was a transaction that will take us some time to process as there are so many emotions wrapped up in the deal. We’re so proud of the work we did together. Over the past 16+ years, we staffed nearly 1.5 million shifts. Mind-blowing. Lots of laughter, tears and good feelings of bringing peace of mind to our clients and their families, developing amazing managers that took ownership in the work, and of course the care staff – we couldn’t have done it without them.
This transaction won’t affect our two BrightStar Senior Living communities (Madison and Waunakee), so we’ll still be business owners and BrightStar franchisees. We have a wonderful team in place that takes care of the day to day for BSL, and it requires very little time and direction from us.
Our other exciting news is that we’ve closed on a lake home, north of Manitowish Waters. We just started looking last fall, and found the perfect place. We’ve bought a boat and are having fun furnishing the home and can’t wait until summer. Our plan is to go back and forth between Waunakee and Rock Lake. We’re still very engaged in our church, Waunakee pickleball, several boards and committees and volunteer gigs so we’ll manage to stay over-scheduled and busy in our post-BrightStar lives.
The last few weeks were extremely stressful as we worked to close our business deal. Conversations with attorneys for both sides about immaterial issues, a business broker that we were required to retain for the deal, who in the end did a ridiculous money grab - even though he’d been paid very well and had very little to do with the deal considering he didn’t find us the buyer!
We originally were going to spend a week in Mexico after our Costa Rica week last January. Our friends George and Kimberly Sanchez are building a massive rental property on the beach just north of Tulum and invited our hiking gang to be their inaugural guests. In December, they realized it wouldn’t be finished in January, so we “conservatively” rescheduled for late March - thinking our business deal and the property would both be wrapped up! Three weeks ago we heard from an optimistic George that they were working full speed and we could come but it wasn’t going to be finished. A week later, we heard from Kimberly that it wasn’t going to be ready - not even close (she was right). At the time, I was on a particularly stressful call about the deal, so I started researching for an alternative place to stay in Tulum. The rest of our group cancelled their plane tickets, but dreaming of Mexico was the only thing that got me through the few last weeks!
Of course, we had a snowstorm overnight in Madison with 4” of fresh stuff as we drove to the airport at 5am for our 6:30am departure - and the snow continued quite heavily! I never saw a plane encrusted with snow like that, but we boarded, sat about 30 minutes at the gate, then pushed back as they brushed the snow off the wings, hit us twice with de-icing fluid, then we waited for them to plow the runway, they hit us again with the de-ice and we were on our way to Minneapolis. About halfway there we broke out of the snow, and there was a fresh dusting of snow on the ground, but not at all like we’d left behind in Madison!
We’d had just an hour layover scheduled at MSP, and we were 90 minutes late departing Madison, but a quick power walk from C gates to G gates, and we walked right on the plane with about 5 minutes to spare. I’d checked other fights from MSP to Cancun and there were 3 more that day, so I’m confident we’d have made it regardless.
We arrived in Cancun just after 1pm. A warm, humid, blissful breezy day. We waited 90 minutes for our checked baggage - note to self, next time bring a carry-on and shop for clothes when you get here! We’d rented a car as Tulum is about 60-90 minutes south of Cancun - another hour lost to that process, but by 4 pm we were on the highway headed south.
Just after 5 pm we met George and Kimberly at their “house.” It was great to see in this state, and will be magnificent when we see it next year in its finished state. Even though George speaks fluent Spanish and has been onsite since January, it’s still been a nightmare for them - short cuts, people not reading the plans, installing things where they don’t belong, etc. After our tour, we went to a nearby restaurant and had a fabulous dinner, and time to catch up. It was great to chat with another former BrightStar owner as we are still processing all that, and hear about their grandkids and the upcoming travels they have planned.
By now it was dark, and we drove 7 more miles south and found Papaya Playa Project on “hotel row” in Cancun. Helpful staff met us at the car and took our luggage, and directed us to registration in the dark. We were overwhelmed there with options for the week, vegan popsicles, and need to swipe credit and debit cards for who even knows what (similar to the rental car procedure). Then our guide walked us through the courtyard where a Saturday festival was going on, through the restaurant that had circus-like performers walking around, and onto a boardwalk through the jungle to our room. The room itself reminded me of our place in Santorini but with a different view! The room, closet, shower and bed are all plaster - open, yet functional. We have a private terrace with lounge chairs, a hammock and a pool. Because of the fence giving us privacy, we can’t see the ocean, but we can hear it. Even though we won’t really get a feel for the place until we see it in daylight, I think it’s the perfect retreat we were looking for!
