By Alexa Wolforth-
Just under two weeks ago, I started a new chapter in my life with my husband, Garrett. We got married and it was quite literally the best day of our lives. Our day (really our entire weekend) was perfect and filled with love and laughter. We were surrounded with all of our friends and family, and we couldn’t have asked for anything more.
After the wedding day was over, we left to go on our honeymoon. We went to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and it was truly incredible. The resort was nothing short of fabulous! Our room exceeded our expectations and the views from anywhere in the resort were breathtaking. The food was wonderful, and the drinks were delicious. However, what we didn’t realize was that none of those things were going to end up being our favorite part of the trip.
Throughout our stay, we got to know many of the staff members. During the week, we learned about their lives, and they learned a lot about ours. A couple of the guys were ex-athletes, who Garrett and I could obviously relate to. We had our butler, Jesus; our servers, Eddy and Jesse; our concierge, Laury; and our pool/entertainment staff, Miguel (aka Mr. Spicy), Jefferson (aka Coca Cola), and Jose (aka The Magic). However, each of them did so much more than just what their job titles say. Anytime we ran into them, their faces lit up (as did ours) and they were so excited to greet us! We would stop and have conversations with them each time we saw them. They would even come find us at dinner or lunch just to say hello. Of course, they would ask us if there was anything they could get us or if there was something we needed, but we were happier with just building relationships with them. After a couple of days, we considered them to be our friends more than them being staff members.
Each morning and through the afternoon, there were countless activities that were going on. Every night, there was an after-dinner show that would be performed and didn’t end until later into the night. The next day when we ran into our friends, I decided to ask them what their work schedules were like since I knew how many games/activities/shows happened each day. They told us that they worked from 6:30am-11:30pm each day for eleven days straight and then would have three days off. After their three days off, they would work eleven more. I was shocked. I asked them where they lived and most of them lived over five hours away from the resort and from their families. Again, I was shocked. They said that their job they have now is much better than the alternative they could be doing. When we had this conversation, part of me felt grateful for the life we have but the other part of me felt guilty. I think that sometimes we don’t realize how blessed our lives are until they are compared to someone else’s.
We wanted to do something for them since they spent their past week doing so much for us. On our last night, we went and found each one of them, gave them a gift, and explained to them how appreciative we were for everything that they did during our stay, and that we were incredibly thankful to have their friendships in our lives. Each of them was over the moon excited and grateful (which was the best part), and our hearts were filled with joy (as were theirs).
Seven days isn’t a very long time to get to know someone, but when we left our resort to head back to the airport, I felt sad that we had to leave them. However, I think it’s pretty special that we felt so connected to them after just one week. I would highly recommend the resort that we stayed at – not just for the beauty of the resort, but for the beautiful relationships that were built. We will be forever thankful to have spent our honeymoon in Punta Cana and will cherish every friendship that was made. We cannot wait to go back!
P.S. Thanks to social media, we get to keep up with all of our new friends :)
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Important TBR Updates
- JUST ADDED! Because all our originally scheduled Fall/Winter Elite Pitchers Boot camp dates have sold out, we have added another date – February 19-21 (Sat-Mon). Learn more and register at https://www.texasbaseballranch.com/elite-pitchers-bootcamp/ If you would still like to be placed on the waitlist for our December and/or January dates, call the office and we’ll get you added (936) 588-6762.
- Our Elite Catchers Boot Camp taking place Dec. 10-12 is sold out! Please call the office to be placed on the waitlist.
- The Alumni/Advanced Boot Camp will be January 8th and 9th. More information and registration available HERE. The $500 “Early Bird” Savings ends December 1st. Brent Strom will be guest instructing again this year and Flint Wallace will be back for the weekend as well.
- The TBR Ultimate Pitching Coaches Bootcamp is taking on a new name and look this year. The “2021 STFI Coaches Workshop” will take place December 3-5 and is limited to only 35 participants. Only 5 slots remain. For details and registration information, email Jill@TexasBaseballRanch.com.”
for more details or to sign up for any of these options.