Postcards: How to Lose Your Car in Two Minutes

Reflections on Puerto Rico, community, and my desire to purchase pirate costumes from restaurants.

Dear Fellow Expat:

“I’ll take your keys,” the young valet said. “Your car will be safe.”

The question I should have asked is… “Where?”

Where will it be safe?

John Mauldin lives in a massive community in Dorado, Puerto Rico.

Someone told me it used to be a plantation owned by the Vanderbilts, but I don’t have an interest in fact-checking things on a Sunday.

The sheer size of this plantation and its residences is a character in this story.

John’s Birthday Party was a delight.

But he couldn’t park 30 guest cars on the lawn or the street.

So, the valets were in full force.

Due to the neighbors ' arrival, his driveway already looked like a golf cart dealership.

John’s friends and family flew in from around the world. His Puerto Rico neighborhood expat community gathered to celebrate John (and to watch Alabama lose to Vanderbilt).

After the dinner… and the laughs… and the toasts… his seven children (five adopted) offered reflections that cut me in half.

One of his sons, adopted from St. Croix, claim…