A Life Well Traveled with Allie and Jim Cantonis

Transcript

Ernestine 0:00

Welcome to Bon Vivant Chic Life Well Lived the podcast for anyone who wants to cut through today's noise and just listen for a few minutes to meaningful conversations on the human experience and the power of connectedness. I'm your host Ernestine Morgan, an advocate for kindness with a passion for showcasing human interest stories that matter. Today I am happy to be sitting with my friends Ally and Jim Cantonis We are connected through my time at Morton Plant, Mease Healthcare Foundation and Larry played golf with Jim back in the day they are both retired, Allie from practicing commercial probate litigation, and Jim from his family business, Acme Sponge and Shammy of Tarpon Springs, a successful processor and wholesaler of marine sponges and sheepskin shammy products sold around the world. Ally and Jim, thank you so much for sitting down with me today.

Jim 0:54

A pleasure.

Ernestine 0:54

Ally, you definitely have this really charming southern accent. Can you please share a little bit about where you grew up? What life was like.

Ali 1:02

I grew up in Columbia, Tennessee, about 40 miles south of Nashville. We moved there in 1965 from Nashville. My dad had an opportunity to buy a dealership in Columbia. So we moved and it was, Typical southern town. Everybody was the same. There weren't any really rich people. There weren't really any poor people, we had five elementary schools, one junior high and one high school. You had this amalgamation when you got into the seventh grade of all of these kids from other parts of the city that you didn't know. Because you stayed in your little neighborhood and we were free range kids. My parents were permissive and I think that was just the time, as far as what we could do outside. Whenever we got home from school, we walked home from school. We would be on our bikes until dark basically, until it got time for us to have homework in junior high and high school. A fun place to grow

Jim 1:57

I grew up in, Parkridge, Illinois, which is near north suburb to Chicago, and it was an interesting community in that it was a, very white Anglo-Saxon Protestant community. I went to a high school that had 3,400 kids, and I think there were only about,, 10 Greek families even. It was very homogenous. Most people moved out of the city to Park Ridge because of the educational opportunities there. One of the finest, public school districts in the country. Education was a real focus of all the families that lived there. Athletics, performing arts, it was a, middle class to upper middle class community, everybody thinks of public high schools in Chicago and they think of the new Trier school district. The main township district, which I belong to was close to the same. It was a wonderful place to develop. Friendships, lifelong friendships focus really on education. I think in a public high school, we had 97% of our, kids actually went on to college from a public high school. It was very unusual in that sense. I, went to Washington University in St. Louis and did my master's at Mizzou. Even though I played, a little bit of football. At Wash U that was division three football. My real football team is Mizzou.

Ernestine 3:06

That's terrific. And Ally, you're a big Alabama fan,

Ali 3:09

big Alabama fan.

Ernestine 3:10

What are some of your fondest memories growing up

Ali 3:13

I would say mine probably was in the Girl Scouts. I was a girl scout for nine years, and the camping, sometimes as hard as it was when it would pour down rain and we'd end up with sodden, sleeping bags, to do bacon on a top of a can over a fire. Those kinds of things and the friends that I made, there are still some friends.

Jim 3:33

I don't know if this is a fond memory, but it's a memory that has always stuck with me, and that was, in running track. During a particularly hard workout, I started actually dry heaving on the side of the track.

Ernestine 3:43

Oh geez.

Jim 3:44

My coach called the whole team over and said. Hey, look at him. I can't believe it. I never thought I'd ever see him work that hard that he would actually get sick on the track. And he called everybody over to watch me on my hands and knees drive heaving that, that's a memory. But it was really a fond memory. 'cause he was a really, really funny guy. It really revolved mostly around, football. And, we had great success as a team. And I had success personally the bonds that were created were lifetime bonds with your teammates. I'm much closer to my high school classmates than I actually were my college classmates.

Ernestine 4:19

Who had the biggest influence on you when you were growing up?

Jim 4:22

I think there were really two folks that were a huge influence. One was a young life, leader of mine by the name of Doug Barham. He directed me in a lot of ways, in terms of my faith and the deepening of my faith. And then there was one leadership thing that. He taught me. And that was, and it's a young life expression. And that is you have to earn the right to be heard by people. And I used that throughout my career. You have to earn the right, to be heard. And then the other one was my, head football coach when I was a junior in high school. He moved on to, brown University for my senior year. But he taught me. Discipline and how to be a disciplined leader and the responsibilities you had to others. He had been an all American, lineman at Michigan and,, he had his hair cut like a Marine. And he. Incredibly kind, but incredibly disciplined. And that discipline really, was something that impacted me greatly.

Ali 5:15

I would say first and foremost, probably my parents who instilled in me a strong work ethic, giving back to the community. Both my parents volunteered. My mother was always at the polling stations on, election day she was chairman of the board of a lot of things in the school, and in our surrounding community. My dad was a deacon at the church, and then I had a couple of teachers, one of whom, instilled in me a love of geography and history. which I think has. Forged our travels mostly. And another one who gave me probably one of the best pieces of advice I ever had, which was never handle a piece of paper more than once.

Ernestine 5:53

Good. I probably helped in your law practice,

Ali 5:55

It did. Absolutely. I use that every day. I still use it every day.

Jim 5:59

And she preaches it to me every day.

Ali 6:01

It hasn't sunk in yet. I'm still preaching.

Ernestine 6:03

It's funny. What was the first job you had and how did it shape you?

Ali 6:07

I refered little league basketball games.

Ernestine 6:10

Oh, you did? That's terrific.

Ali 6:12

I was 14 years old and the little kids I was refereeing were three and four. They were the cutest things. But if you can imagine, it's much like, our soccer fields today where they wanna pick up the ball and run with it. And so we had to adapt to what, for instance, walking was with the basketball. And we'd let 'em take three or four steps, before we had to call walking on them. 'cause if we stuck to the real rules, we'd never get anything done. And we lowered the nets and to watch them hea the basketball, it was just the cutest thing. It was hard. Not to laugh the whole time you're running up and down the court 'cause they were actually playing full court basketball at that age. And so they get tired, and they'd go over to the side of the court and fall out, 'cause they were tired. It was a fun experience and I think I earned $5 a game. It didn't pay much, but it was fun and it was somewhere that I had to be so there was some responsibility involved

Jim 7:09

I wouldn't say probably about eight. And I started sweeping the floors on Saturdays in the family business up in Chicago for a quarter, an hour and, the quarter or an hour wasn't the important thing. The important thing was if I ever wanted a raise, I had to go in and negotiate with my father, who really did teach me to negotiate in fact, even in college, I had to negotiate. Tuition room and board with him, and he'd try to cut me down and I'd have to try to, renegotiate it up. But, another man who had a great influence on my life. My brother George, and I still have the page where we timed in, and timed out, for our work at 25 cents an hour.

Ernestine 7:45

That's great.

Jim 7:46

Mm-hmm.

Ernestine 7:46

How did you two meet?

Ali 7:47

We met on eHarmony.

Jim 7:49

Married 15 years now.

Ali 7:50

Yeah, it was a while back, we both were online. Jim had recently lost. Wife and I had been single for a very, very long time and had moved to Sarasota about five years previously from Nashville. We both had said in our profiles that we didn't wanna go more than 60 miles to find our perfect match, and we lived 55 miles away from each other. That's great. Just barely got in under the wire. A couple of funny stories, one was apparently there's another bell air up near Jacksonville that spelled differently. Mm-hmm. And so I was really over long distance dating. I was sticking to my guns with the 60 mile rule. I was talking to a friend of mine. She said, how's the computer dating going? I said, well, this really interesting guy kind of popped up, but he didn't have a photo. And he lives in Bel Air, which is way the heck up in Jacksonville. And she says. No, it's not. She said Bel Air's in Pinellas County, and I came to Pinellas County all the time with my law practice and came to the courthouse here. I went back to my little geography again and huh. I relooked and we connected.

Ernestine 8:56

That's terrific. Interesting.

Ali 8:58

Don't know if you recall at the time, but there were commercials on tv of real life couples. And I kept always teasing, Jim, that we could be famous, we could be on tv.

Ernestine 9:07

Think you were like the first couple that I'd met that actually. Got together and are still together, that's terrific

Jim 9:13

She's covered it. Yeah. Over a drink and a cigar or something. Maybe we could talk more about,

Ernestine 9:19

I know you both love. To play golf. You play together, you play with friends, and you love to travel. Can you please share a little bit about that adventure you went on where you cruised on your boat around what's called the Great Loop? What is the great loop?

Ali 9:35

We were at a dinner party, when Jim first mentioned the Great Loop, we were sitting at opposite ends of the table and he says, this is his dream of his. And I'm like, what? The Great Loop is a circumnavigation of the Eastern part of the United States, which most people are not aware is actually an island. If you look at the Mississippi going into the Tennessee, Tom Big B, around the Gulf of Mexico and up the Eastern seaboard into the Great Lakes, you can do all of that by. Boat. So that's what we did. A lot of people say, were you in the ocean? We were in the ocean only for about eight hours. And that was from Cape May to New York City. I'm not gonna say it's not dangerous, but the good news is that we were not the first people to do this. So we had lots of support and lots of help through an organization called the America's Great Loop Cruisers Association.

Ernestine 10:26

Oh,

Ali 10:27

yeah. A-G-L-C-A, which you can go on their website and find out. All kinds of information. They have a route map on there, they have an itinerary. You're not inventing a wheel, you're just following in lots of other footsteps, but it's a rare feat to do it. Only about 200 people do it a year, which is less than the number of people who hike the Appalachian Trail.

Ernestine 10:49

Oh wow.

Ali 10:50

It's not something that a lot of people do. It's got some challenges. You've gotta be careful, you've gotta be watchful. Somebody asked me one time, what was your biggest, not disappointment, but the biggest thing that caught you unawares. And I say I thought that I was gonna be in the back of the boat thumbing through magazines while Jim was. Boating us down the river and we came to determine really quickly that we needed four eyes in the cockpit. Not at all times, but at most times because four eyes see better than two. And there's a lot to look at. In some cases, big barges on the Mississippi River that are 24 barges long with a big tugboat at the end with these captains who don't speak an English that either of us is familiar with, and, sandbars and crazy motor boaters, that you just have to be aware of at all times. The weather, can sometimes be a big factor. And just the seas can sometimes. Two of our worst days on the water were beautiful sky blue days, and the seas were just crappy. And it caught us both on our wearers and what we learned also fairly early on was the boat that can withstand a whole lot more than you can. So we just had to keep on going until we got out of it. And we did.

Jim 12:06

Mm-hmm. And it was a real learning experience in that, when she mentioned the barges, it made me think of you learned certain things that each one of you did better, than the other. Mm-hmm. And when we were, on the rivers with these big barges coming the other way, you would talk to the barge, captain and you determine how you wanna pass when you wanna pass. 'cause in a lot of these rivers, there's a lot of turns and you have to wait to do that. And these guys don't have a lot of flexibility on what they can do. Well, if Allie got on the radio to talk to them, whatever you want, ma'am.

Ali 12:37

Or Come on, little lady.

Jim 12:38

I never spoke to the barge guys only she spoke to the barge guys and when we were docking. Ally usually had the helm because I could throw the ropes. And she was as good or better than I was at the helm. And people would sometimes see us coming in to dock and they would see ally at the helm and people on the docks, very sexist going, oh my God, there's a lady that's gonna dock this thing. And she docked it perfectly and in some cases got applause.

Ernestine 13:02

That's great. The name of the boat,

Jim 13:04

Meraki.

Ernestine 13:05

And the meaning is beautiful.

Jim 13:06

Yeah. To do something with your whole heart and soul.

Ernestine 13:08

I love that.

Jim 13:09

Yeah.

Ernestine 13:10

It's Greek, right?

Jim 13:10

Yes. And interestingly enough, it was named by a friend who was not Greek. She went online. We had a little naming contest. And she came. With, the name and we loved it. And since we've seen it in a lot of different places on businesses,

Ernestine 13:22

it's

Ali 13:23

beautiful. And the guy who bought our boat kept it.

Ernestine 13:25

Allie, the blog you wrote throughout your three year adventure is terrific.

Ali 13:29

Thank you

Ernestine 13:30

156 ports of call. That is amazing.

Jim 13:34

147. Locks

Ali 13:37

we had to do three of them twice because we had a hurricane. We had to dodge a hurricane,

Jim 13:41

chased us back up to Tennessee Town, Bigby, and we had To get protection

Ali 13:45

from the river rising. One of the things we learned on the Great Loop was that. You make plans and God laughs. Our original plan was to do the Great Loop in nine months over one year. And we left in February and we said we were gonna tell the story about giving ourselves a going away party and how we had the blessing of the fleet as it were. Which was just our boat And our priest, actually prayed that Jim would come back alive.

Ernestine 14:09

Oh my goodness.

Ali 14:10

That was our goal.

Jim 14:11

Yeah, he was a little concerned that, Ali might bury me at sea.

Ernestine 14:14

Oh no.

Ali 14:15

He had already said that he wanted to have a Viking funeral, and so that was the perfect out because I could say, well, he went down and flaming Arrow and that's the way he was. We had an interruption the first year,, that was beyond our control and we ended up putting the boat in winter storage, and the same thing happened the second year. And so it happened to be COVID. and so we're not gonna be able to get back on the boat to finish the Great Loop until September because we were in the river system. And you have to wait for the spring floods to subside before you continue down the rivers, or you just run into all kinds of problems. So we said, what are we gonna do for May to September? Let's just get an rv. So we ended up, and Jim much the way he did with the boat, he researched what we wanted and there was one of what we wanted over in Orlando and the guy said, give me a thousand dollars refundable deposit and. Then you can come over and look at it and Jim kind of hemmed and hawed about the thousand dollars and he calls two days later to follow up and it's already sold and there was one more in east of the Mississippi, and it was in Albany, New York, and they said. Give us a thousand dollars, and we'll ship it down to Tampa for you. And Jim said, done. And they did, and we bought it. We left and we didn't really have too much of a plan at the beginning, but as we took off, we decided the first year, because we were gonna pick up the boat in St. Louis, we decided to do basically the states in between the Mississippi River and the Appalachians. So we kind of just did a big loop, in the RV to end up back in St. Louis. And we had a friend who was willing to fly up and drive the RV back to. Bel Air while we brought the boat down. And so we did that and through the course of those 20 states, we saw presidential libraries, we saw national parks, and we played golf and so we kind of developed those themes, those were gonna be the things that we did on the trip. And so we ended up 47,000 miles over three years, did all 48 states, lower 48, and we had now played golf in all 50 states. New Mexico was our 50th one, which we did. This past May, we have seen 59 of 63 national parks, and we've seen all the presidential libraries.

Ernestine 16:33

That's amazing

Jim 16:35

We sold it we keep getting smaller. We went from the boat to the rv. And then from the rv we've gone to a station wagon.

Ernestine 16:43

Oh, you have?

Jim 16:43

And I said, yeah. And we're staying longer in places so we're not, gypsies anymore. I told Ally, the next thing is gonna have to be a couple of motorcycles.

Ali 16:51

Which I have definitely put the kibosh on, although every time we see one that has a little sidecar, we joke and say, that's the next thing

Ernestine 16:59

what's the most memorable trip? You both have ever taken?

Ali 17:02

We have been so blessed and in a lot of cases, lucky with so many of our trips. We took a three week trip to New Zealand in 2015 and played 14 days of golf in 21 days that we were gone. We went from the top of the north island to the bottom of the south island, and we loved that trip. Our honeymoon in Greece was memorable.

Jim 17:26

Alaska. All eight national parks in Alaska. One of which the only way we could get there was by, mail plane. It was the pilot myself in the front and alley and a whole bunch of mail in the back.

Ali 17:38

I was literally sitting amidst of. Lots of big duffles, and it only flew on Monday and Thursday. So if you missed the day, which we later found some other travelers had missed it. It was a nine hour cab ride.

Ernestine 17:53

Oh my.

Ali 17:54

We initially had thought that we would do the Alaska National Parks buy. Rv.

Ernestine 17:59

Mm-hmm.

Ali 18:00

And then I found out that only two of the eight are accessible by car. I said that was way beyond my skillset and being able to plan an adventure like that. So we were able to get an outfitter who advertised themselves as the Grand Slam of Alaska Parks and they just. Put together an idyllic trip for us.

Jim 18:21

Bush planes. Trains

Ali 18:23

float planes. Yeah. Kayaks, we went on virtually every conveyance imaginable except maybe motorcycle. It's really outstanding. We were very lucky at Denali, we had three days mm-hmm where you saw the mountain without, as the guy kept telling us, she mostly wears her little hat, which is, the clouds around it, kinda like the tablecloth on Table Mountain in South Africa. We saw her three days with no hat on, no clouds. I got one photo in, a reflection lake that. I swear I saw it on a kiosk of postcards, not too long after that, and I was like, that's my photo. It wasn't,

Ernestine 19:01

yeah. Which culture? Throughout the world has fascinated you the most?

Ali 19:05

For me, I would say it would be Morocco. That was a trip that we did not go on together. This was before we were married. I was there for Christmas. And to be a Christian in a Muslim country celebrating Christmas was incredibly unique and heartwarming for me because I. Everywhere we went, there were Christmas trees.

Ernestine 19:27

Oh.

Ali 19:27

I think they were looking at the, not so much the cultural aspect of it. They were looking at the money aspect of it, the social aspect of it. Mm-hmm. I felt like that was such a reach out. They wanted to make us feel comfortable and they wanted us to feel welcome in their country.

Jim 19:43

For me it would be, I think Vietnam. I was surprised by Vietnam in that, we still harbor ill feelings. Toward them, in this country that is not the case. They love Americans. They would rather have the US dollar than their own currency. They are incredibly, hardworking people. They trust Americans. Do not at all trust the Chinese. They, would much rather be aligned with us than the Chinese.

Ernestine 20:12

Very interesting. What lessons about family and relationships would you pass along to our younger generation?

Jim 20:19

I would say follow your dreams. First of all, figure out a way. To make it work. Follow your dreams. That would be my first life lesson, I think. Be willing to take some chances. I was. Not willing, very much growing up to really go out there and take chances. And sometimes I regret that I wasn't able to do that. That's still probably not my DNA, start early and be a giver, not a taker. It's sort of like the world doesn't revolve just around you.

Ernestine 20:45

Mm-hmm.

Jim 20:46

And I think that's really important. And I think a lot of things can come from doing that meeting other people that you might not have ordinarily met. That's really important. And lastly, as you're building your life, you may not have a lot of assets, but, be willing to pay it forward. You've had opportunities, pay 'em forward. Start young.

Ernestine 21:05

Nicely said.

Ali 21:06

Managing your time to where you can do work, but then also give back to your community. I watched my dad come home for dinner every night. We would sit down at six 30 and he would go back to work after we were finished sometimes during the day, he would have to take off for a board meeting. And my mom was the same way. She was a stay at home mom, but she didn't stay at home. So I would say get out. And one of the things my mother used to always say was, have younger friends.

Ernestine 21:35

Oh, that's great. What are some life lessons you've learned that you wish you had known earlier?

Jim 21:42

I don't know if it's that I wish I'd have known earlier. I think I always knew this, but it really got cemented as I got older, and that is. Always do the right thing. It may be hard to do, but if you do the right thing, even if the result isn't what you wanted, you can hold your head up, and know that you did the right things. The consequences just weren't what you would hope for. I think that is. A critical one. It sure does, allow you to make decisions. 'cause do I do this or do I that well, which is the right thing to do. And just follow that and don't take shortcuts.

Ali 22:16

I'd say a little bit the same. But also reach out. Don't wait around to be the one reached out to, and that involves friends, family, and your community. And just get out and do something.

Ernestine 22:30

We talk a lot about intention, mm-hmm. Being intentional in your life, in your friendships, your relationships, and how important that is. What do you think is the secret to a happy and fulfilling life?

Jim 22:42

Oh, to me it's relationships. Purely and simply relationships. When I came to this area, from Chicago, I looked at some of the. People who had tremendous impact in this community, or they had tremendous wealth, whatever it is, and they're not remembered for those things. What they're remembered for is the impact they had. For me, I remember the impact they had on me. Mm-hmm. The Greek expression when somebody dies is may their memory be eternal. Their cash sure isn't, the monuments, that they help build now aren't necessarily gonna be there. But the memory, the relationships that are developed, may those be eternal.

Ernestine 23:21

Hmm

Ali 23:21

I would agree with that. I think it is relationships. You can't just live in a bubble.

Ernestine 23:26

Yeah, this community is pretty amazing. It really is. You both have transitioned very well in reimagining your lives through retirement. What would you say keeps you inspired and motivated every day?

Jim 23:39

For me, I retired and we talked about our relationship at Morton Plant, but, head first into BayCare, which is the parent company, if you would, of the Morton Plant Hospitals, the St. Joe's Hospitals, and others now, 16 hospitals, soon to be 17. I think that just playing golf would be incredibly unsatisfying.

Ernestine 23:58

Mm-hmm.

Jim 23:59

What really recharges my batteries is being involved in doing that work, and seeing the results in people's lives. I'm not directly a caregiver in any way, shape, or form, but it recharges my batteries every day. I would say there was a lot of business that I got involved in doing that, and probably the two most satisfying years of business in my entire career.

Ernestine 24:20

Oh, that's great.

Ali 24:21

I think having goals, and some of mine are kind of pithy, but,, a couple of years ago I said I wanted to win some golf tournaments and so I worked on my game a little bit and I won some golf tournaments. And, that was. Fun. Now I am trying to become a life master in bridge 20 silver points away that's what I'm. Doing with most of my time, and I'm still volunteering. I was a guardian ad litem for many years. I, pretty much stopped doing that when we started The Great Loop. We were also a big couple for a child in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Wonderful. And I served on that board for a while. It's always been community driven. Even when I was working, I would serve on boards and I would try to figure out what my bandwidth was for being able to work 50, 60 hours a week. And I discovered that it was three things. I could do three things in addition to the job I tend to still do that even in retirement. I do the fun stuff and that's quote my job. But also I really wanna see the world. We're at the age now where most of the things we are doing are one and done.

Ernestine 25:26

Mm-hmm.

Ali 25:26

We're planning a trip to Australia right now for 2027, and I'm trying to pack it all in australia is a, very big country. And it would be like saying, I wanna see all the United States in four weeks. Hard to do.

Ernestine 25:38

Yeah. That will definitely be an adventure for you. I look forward to hearing about your trip to Australia, and we definitely wanna get some packing tips because you are the best packer. On the planet

Ali 25:51

well, we have discovered a fantastic thing, and that is wool T-shirts.

Ernestine 25:57

Oh,

Ali 25:57

Mock tees. They don't stink. Three weeks of travel in Alaska and we were both in less than 35 pounds. It's all about layering. 40 degrees you throw on another t-shirt. And these are so easy to pack and you don't need any sweaters. We have basically gotten rid of all of our sweaters, because you just put on another t-shirt and we go either with white and navy or white and black and that's it. And I'll throw on a scarf or something. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked if I'm a Delta flight attend because I've got the navy blue and the, and I've been given discounts at, places to eat in the airport because they think I'm a Delta flight. Attend it's working great. But throw on a different scarf and it makes a different outfit even if it, the rest of it's all black or all Navy The biggest thing is you've got to commit to not having so many shoes.

Jim 26:49

True. 'cause if we're hiking, you've got hiking boots. Yeah, that's true. But you wear those because they take up too much space. In your carry on. We go three weeks, anywhere with just our carry on, unless we're carrying our golf clubs too.

Ernestine 27:01

Oh, that's great.

Ali 27:02

We never check luggage unless we're. Taking golf clubs,

Ernestine 27:05

and thank you both so much for your commitment to the communities and making it a better place as well. I thought it was really neat to read in your blog. That when you stopped in St. Augustine during your boat adventure, you stumbled upon a monument that had a plaque on it, and the plaque had your parents' name on it. Jim,

Jim 27:26

I didn't know about it, but the first Greek Orthodox church in North America was actually in St. Augustine. And, that's where Greeks first landed. And in many cases, they were indentured servants. They, were tricked, to come over for freedom for a better life. It was very interesting to understand that. My dad has always been very involved in the Greek community, and he was very involved in what kind of rebuilding, all of that in St. Augustine, over the years. So that was a surprise.

Ernestine 27:54

legacy. To leave for your family. Mm-hmm. You're both very involved in the communities through volunteering and also financially supporting organizations that have a deep meaning for you both. What does philanthropy mean to you,

Ali 28:09

for me, it's just giving back, making the place where you live better.

Ernestine 28:12

Beautiful.

Jim 28:13

The expression many have heard, and that is time, talent, and treasure. When I first came to Florida, the thing that struck me having come from Chicago was all the great institutions in Chicago were already built. The art institute, the planetarium, you can go on and on and on. Here we were so young, we're talking about the mid seventies.

Ernestine 28:32

Mm-hmm.

Jim 28:32

It allowed. A kid, in his late twenties to get involved and to make a difference. I was fortunate enough to be asked to go on the Ruth Eckert Hall Board just before it opened. I was involved in Chamber of Commerce work. When the Sunshine Skyway Bridge went down and I was involved with some incredibly. Wonderful people, from all over Pinellas County, negotiating with the state as to what we were gonna do to the bridge. And many of those fellows, Gus, Stavros Jack Lake, they were real mentors of mine. And what I saw was, yeah, they had the talent and the treasure, but they were all growing their businesses. They devoted the time. It's easy to write a check, but to vote the time is really, really, a great monumental thing to do.

Ernestine 29:16

Thank you both so much for sitting down with me and again, your commitment to the communities here in, Tampa Bay. I love chatting about travel, and I hope that we'll get to chat some more. Thank you so much.

Ali 29:30

Our pleasure. This is fun.

Ernestine 29:31

Thanks for listening to Bon Vivant Chic Life Well Lived. I hope you'll tune in for more meaningful stories on the human experience and share with family and friends. A special shout out to Will Cooper, out of Nashville, Tennessee for providing this season's music. All the episodes are available wherever you listen to podcasts, including my website. Bonvivantchic.com Till next time. Remember, every day is a gift. Live it with kindness.