No More Guilt Trip About Luxury!

It is March - and it is madness! I just celebrated Jessica's 21st birthday in Vegas with 28 family and friends at Mandalay Bay. It was absolutely unbelievable. Everyone had a blast...from the 21 year olds to the 75 year olds. I might add, that it was a "luxury" packed weekend that we have saved for since she was born. 21 only happens once, and why shouldn't we throw the party of a lifetime - forget the financial crisis - it was my baby's birthday. So I get home to the OC on Sunday evening at 8:30pm....pack for my trip to Australia the next day and sit back to reflect how grand life really is. All we hear about is that luxury travelers are gearing down, not taking the wonderful vacations they did last year, not saving for the special present for their mom or daughter because no one knows what the future holds.

Well I will tell you what the future holds. This is America and we are about freedom and spirit. Instead of keeping quiet about spending or showing your wealth...celebrate your hard work and all the things you have done to get where you are.

I board my flight for Sydney....get upgraded to business - yeah! And as I snuggle into my new United "bed" I read the cover story of USA Today - Weekend. There it is screaming at me - don't let your friends know about your cruise, don't let them know you upgraded to first class, and for heavens sakes don't ever let them know you got your tan from skiing in Gstaad...pretend your winter tan came from skiing a local hill. Don't you dare hire a car to take you to your hotel, hail a cab even when the price is the same...some might think you are a "jet setter."

Are you kidding me? So I sit in my brand new United "bed" and watch the couples around me that are flying to Australia for the first time. They are excited, celebrating with a champagne toast and cameras out to capture the memories. I speak to most of them around me. "So have you had this trip planned for a long time." They answer - "no, actually there were some good deals and we decided to enjoy this economic turmoil and cash in on some deals." So call it what you want - luxury shame, stealth wealth or guilt downsizing. I call it - "enough already!" There should be no guilt to trying to enjoy this fabulous life.

If we don't start spending money we will see a bigger downfall then ever before in the history of the USA. Since our president quotes Lincoln all the time, I thought I would set the record straight with a speech that Lincoln gave and one I have never heard our president refer to ...so here it is - read it with heart, mind and eyes wide open....

"The world has never had a good definition of the word "liberty". The American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty. But in using the same word, we do not all mean the same thing. "What constitutes the bulwark of our liberty and independence?

It is not our frowning embattlements, our bristling sea coasts. These are not our reliance against tyranny. Our reliance is in the love of liberty, which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere.

Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. "At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some trans-Atlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us in a blow?

Never. All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined could not, by force, take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? "I answer that if it ever reach us, it must spring from amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we ourselves must be the authors and finishers. As a nation of free men, we must live through all times, or die by suicide."

Let reverence for the law be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in the schools, in the seminaries, and in the colleges. Let it be written in primers, in spelling books and almanacs. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And in short, let it become the political religion of the nation. And let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes, and tongues, and colors, and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly at its altar. "And let us strive to deserve, as far as mortals may, the continued care of Divine Providence, trusting that, in future national emergencies, He will not fail to provide us the instruments of safety and security. Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, or frightened from it by menaces of the destruction to the government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might. And in that faith, let us to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." ... Mr. Lincoln

So there you have it my friends....it will come from amongst us...so get to work, get spending, stop hiding your desire to travel and enjoy fine hotels all over the world. Sip your champagne and toast to the hard work that got you here.