Is There a Doctor in the House? Two Mediums; Hog Heaven; Tour a la Cart; PB&J?

We were blessed this week to be able to host two very special visitors to The Villages: Dr. Gary Schwartz, PhD, and his lovely wife Rhonda. Gary is professor of psychology, medicine, neurology, psychiatry, and surgery at the University of Arizona, and is also Director of its Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health. He is also the author of several books that have been instrumental in My Lovely Bride’s understanding of life after death. Rhonda is not only his life partner, but is also a gifted medium in her own right. Later in this blog I will briefly describe the serious reason for his visit, but I wanted to introduce them to you and describe the cultural orientation to which we submitted them upon their arrival.

This being their first visit to America’s Friendliest Hometown, we wanted them to get a real flavor of what The Villages had to offer. Since we don’t own a golf cart ourselves, we rented a four-seater for the day. Fortunately, it was a beautiful day. Unfortunately, we had rented “The Slowest Golf Cart on the Planet”. Cart after cart passed us on our four hour tour. We didn’t pass a single cart except one whose batteries had failed. (This was very embarrassing, since Gary and Rhonda drive Corvettes!) Eventually we arrived at Sumter Landing. Since Gary has a Harley, we had to stop in for him to get a souvenir of his visit. Here are Gary and Rhonda in front of the shop... does he look like your typical Hog rider? (Okay, so he has a beard, but we didn't see any tattoos, and he wasn't wearing one of those wallets on a big chain...)

We finally arrived in Spanish Springs, far behind schedule because of our turtle-like cart, where they posed in front of a faster mode of transportation. Gary is sporting his new Harley chapeau and leather vest (hard to see under his jacket), while Rhonda looks a lot more sophisticated than the biker babes we see riding on County Road 44. 

On Friday evening, Suzanne and Gary gave the first of two joint presentations on "Sacred Partnerships" at Unity of The Villages. Both nights were sold out well in advance, and were attended by just over 300 enthusiastic guests. The lines formed early, and we saw many friends and acquaintances as well as many new faces that had heard of this special event. 

Suzanne discussed how she learned about Dr. Schwartz, and how they met and started a collaboration, while Dr. Schwartz gave a detailed and fascinating presentation on the scientific experiments he has conducted over the years on mediumship and the afterlife, which offer scientific evidence supporting the proposition that there is more to this life than what can perceive with our five senses. You can find much more information on Dr Gary Schwartz at www.drgaryschwartz.com. 

Gary and Rhonda are "into" horses, so after they visited one location in Oxford to view some miniature horses, we took them to Brownwood to see some full-size versions. (This wasn't a very colorful horse, and its rider was a typical laconic cowboy...) 

On Saturday evening Gary and Suzanne had their second presentation, again a full house. Gary is a fabulous speaker, and had the audience spellbound while describing his experiments and particularly his mentor Susy Smith's guidance from the other side. 

After two exhausting days of indoctrination to The Villages lifestyle, and two highly successful evenings of presentations on the afterlife, we decided to reward Gary and Rhonda with a gourmet dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a milk chaser. (Rhonda wisely opted for dessert instead.) Suzanne slipped some "Villages Koolaid" in their drinks, and we're hoping that Gary and Rhonda become frequent visitors to, and ultimately new residents of, The Villages!

Rudy and Gretchen, who normally bark at visitors, were the subjects of a Behavior Modification Experiment. Gary and Rhonda have been handing them their little doggie treats all week, and the puppies have been noticeably quieter... here they are enjoying a small portion of peanut butter on spoons after our PB&J's.