farewell to diamond, farewell!

I had begun this process the first week of December.

I had almost 8000 points still available for travel, but I wasn't going to use them.

Booking a vacation with them would slow down the process.

Plus, I was trying to emphasize a point to Diamond: I cannot travel as I once did.

The atrial fibrillation truly does limit how far I can drive.

Basically, I can go about 150 miles, as the trip to Waycross revealed.

Sure, I had that 45-inning vacation, and Daytona is a bit farther away than south Georgia.. however, I also had two scary moments of vertigo on the drive down, proving to me that the A-fib is still present (remember, there is no cure, only control) and will rear up during strenuous acts, such as continuous highway driving around congested areas.

So, most definitely no more of that is allowed.

As, they have no vacation sites that are less than two hours' drive from here, and as no one else has stepped up to help pay the annual maintenance fees, it's time to let it go.

That's why I asked to be part of the Transitions program.

It took being on hold for 47 minutes to talk to someone about that, but I held the line.

At last, Tara answered and, after confirming that I met all the requirements to be admitted to that program, she enrolled me and told me what to expect and how long it would take.

Thank you, Tara, for your honesty.

When I'd heard naught for almost two months, I sent an email, a gentle reminder of my situation and why I needed the Transitions program, then I called, too.

The paperwork arrived at the start of last week for the four contracts I have (the original one with Epic, that was taken over by SunTerra before Diamond bought that one out; then three smaller collections of points purchased in 2007, 2008, and 2011).

Hallelujah!

One was missing two of the needed pages (out of 5); when I called yesterday with questions, I was told the paperwork for that 2011 contract would be resent to me within a week or two, but that I should proceed with the others.

That's what I've done.

Today, I went through the process of having the three documents associated with each of the three contracts notarized, for a total of nine notary stamps affixed.

I also made copies, of course, just to have for my records.

I paid the $1000 fee to have each ownership contract released, knowing that I would never see that $3000 again, nor would I receive any funds from Diamond for relinquishing those 15,000 points back to their 'inventory'.

I am absolutely fine with that.

I just want to be done with vacation ownership; yes, I've had fun with it, alone and with others, but the time has come to end it.

Now, those three sets of notarized papers are on their way and out of my hands.

Hallelujah!

The postal clerk even date-stamped the envelopes and posed them for this photograph, as my proof of posting.

Thank you.

Now, to await the paperwork for that last contract, to close it out, too.

I will be so relieved to have this over and done.

Somehow, serious matters like this take a lot of energy out of me.

I feel enervated and almost immobile from the weight of them.

Just one step at a time, one breath at a time...

taking care of business.