Shoreside Coordinator

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Today's assignment has nothing to do with celebrating Mexican independence. Today, Jocelyn and I have a lunch date with our good friend Roni Teitelbaum, who has agreed to serve as our shoreside coordinator.

In this role, Roni's job is to help us keep on top of things at home. We've done everything we can to streamline and simplify our affairs -- we've set up autopay for all our bills, arranged for dogsitters, provided for my ailing dad's care, to name a few -- but even with this careful preparation something in bound to come up.

That's where Roni comes in.

We've asked our attorney, Julie McVey, to draw up a Power of Attorney for Roni (who is also an attorney, by the way -- it helps to have smart friends) to use if a hitch comes up with our personal affairs. Using the POA, Roni can transact business on our behalf in our absence.

Even though Emily will be home for much of the time we're away, and we have Ryan and Annie as housesitters through August, we're asking Roni to keep an eye on the place for us. In late August, the house will be empty for a month, after Emily leaves for college and Ryan and Annie move back East for Annie's landscape design program. (We've arranged for Maya, our Rhodesian Ridgeback, to stay with a friend after Ryan and Annie leave.) So Roni's house watch will be even more important during September. We're asking her to do a walk through shortly after everyone leaves just to make sure all is OK.

As shoreside coordinator, Roni will need to stay abreast of our doings, partly through this blog, so she knows our status at all times. We'll rely on email for most communication, and of course she will have our phone number if she needs more immediate contact.

We have also listed her as one of our emergency contacts, along with my brother Bill, should, God forbid, we need to activate our EPIRB beacon, which triggers international search and rescue resources.

While we don't expect to ask for much of her time, it's comforting to know Roni will be there for us if we need her.