We’re just connecting the dots
WINTER TEXAN Volume 10 • Issue 21 March 12, 2025
Making the Best of the Rest
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by Eryn Reddell Wingert Photos courtesy of Keith Thorn
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This is our second-to-the-last issue of Welcome Home Winter Texan for the 2024-2025 season. It is also our Take-Home Issue. Every year, we invite you to come by our office at 219 W. Nolana Ave. in McAllen to pick up extra copies of our Take-Home Issue to take back to your summer homes with you. Share them with family members and friends so they can get a taste of exactly what they’re missing by staying up north during the winter. We know you have many stories of the fun you had this year to share with them, too. We always say our Winter and Converted Texans are the Rio Grande Valley’s greatest ambassadors. You know, firsthand, about everything there is to do in South Texas—from South Padre Island to Ancestral Craft Spirits Distillery in Roma, and everywhere in-between. You know about the fajitas and the margaritas, the opportunities to volunteer in our schools and food banks, the quilt shows and RC competitions, pickleball and golf tournaments, the Welcome Home tours and travel adventures… and the list goes on. Thank you for being such amazing ambassadors and for sharing our Take-Home Issue with our northern neighbors. Don’t be in any rush to head up north, but once you go, please be in a rush to come back. We’re just connecting the dots…
Thank You
SEASON SPONSORS 2024-2025
K
eith Thorn, 66, is along for the ride, one dreamed up by his wife, Melody. The dream: hitting the open road and heading south for the winter.
The couple took the leap two years ago, leaving Illinois to spend the winter in Port Isabel, Texas. They extended their stay the second year to six months. The couple didn’t know what to expect, aside from a campground and a heated pool. But what they found at Port Isabel Park Center was a new community and a new outlook on happiness. “We had no idea we would make so many good friends,” says Thorn. Not to mention pickleball, aqua aerobics, and yoga. “It’s pretty interesting here,” Thorn shares. “Pretty much everybody is done with the hard side of life and just wanting to enjoy themselves.” The couple enjoy time with friends, relaxing on the beach, and taking part in Park activities, experiences Thorn shares on social media. The journal-style posts, accompanied by photos of sunrises and bayside views, include laughter-filled dinners with friends, joyful evenings of entertainment, and prayerful moments over coffee with a lighthouse view--many with an underlying message of living in the moment. The posts inspired Thorn to write his newly released book, A Season In The Sun, about a fictional couple, Jake and Emily, loading up an RV and heading south. When Jake and Emily settle into the WinterTexan-lifestyle, their perspectives begin to change, shifting focus from dwelling on the past to welcoming-
-and leaning into--the present. It’s a relaxing read, blending fiction and nonfiction elements that offer a glimpse into the fun-filled, slower-paced lifestyle unique to South Texas winter visitors, where friendships are made and community is formed. Thorn says his intention was to express the “essence of the environment” he and Melody have found. The Thorns’ first visit to South Texas was all about the excitement and newness. The second is about reflection--on happiness, being present, and enjoying life now. Their motto: Make the best of the rest! A similar scenario plays out in A Season In The Sun, expanding on the theme of shifting focus from the past and embracing life. Here’s an excerpt: As they made their way back to the RV, the evening felt like more than just a gathering-it had been a glimpse into a life they hadn’t known they were looking for. And for the first time in a long while, the future felt wide open, full of possibility, and exactly where they were meant to be.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2