Back On Land

So Wifey and I drove to Lauderdale, and got there too early to board the Allure of the Seas...so I pulled into Lester's Diner, for a pre cruise stomach stretching...We ate huge sandwiches and shared blueberry pie...NOW we were ready!

We met Eric and Dana and Marc and Edna. Our travel agent Marge had sent us some fine champagne, to thank us for our business, and we made short work of the bottle. The eating and drinking orgy began, in earnest.

The ship is a true wonder. It's ENORMOUS. It has an entire "central park" on a deck, mall, theatres, skating rinks, zip lines, diamond mine, and 5 olympic sized pools. Not really, but it just might have.

One way they fit so much on the ship is by taking room from the staterooms, at least ours. Wifey and I literally bumped into each other constantly, and the shower was the size of a tube out of the Star Trek transporter room. When I dropped the soap (ha!), I had to get out of the tube to pick it up...

Still, the 6 of us laughed, and ate, and drank. The shows were top quality, especially this water show with divers and gymnasts --like Circ de Soleil, only less homoerotic.

In Nassau, Eric and Dana and I went to Graycliff, an amazing colonial building where Wifey and the Ds and I have enjoyed 2 of our most memorable dinners. A nice young fellow named McCartney (his real first name, I guess his folks were Beatles fans) gave us a tour, and there's a cigar factory right on premises, which I never knew about! We walked back to the ship in the Bahamian heat.

Tuesday night, after some steaks in one of the "specialty restaurants", which mean you have to pay extra to eat there, Eric said that we had some free martinis waiting in the Schooner Bar, since the ship messed up our first night dinner reservations.

The 6 of us went up, and there was a wedding chapel next door. We walked in to see it, and I was ambushed by marital love! Wifey had planned a 25th anniversary renewal ceremony.

The lovely English director read vows Wifey had written, and she smuggled her wedding veil aboard. A nice, large black lady wandered in, to check out the chapel, and started to leave...I told her to stay, and she did, and ended up crying in the aisle, just like at a real wedding!

Afterwards we toasted with more champagne, and took photos. Then we made it to the Schooner Bar, where the reggae band played our song: "You Send Me." It was most romantic.

And, best for Wifey, her dear friend Edna got to attend. When we married 25 years ago this coming January, Edna was 8 months pregnant, and couldn't travel from Atlanta. This time she took her rightful place as matron of honor...

The excursions were nice: sailing in St. Thomas to a reef, where Eric, Marc, Dana, and I snorkeled with turtles, and fish that were of impossible colors. I'd seen plenty of reef fish before, but some of these looked like a preschooler was given a crayon and told to come up with the most outrageous schemes they could...

The next day we went to St. Maarten, and rode segways on the boardwalk. One of the couples who took the trip was a woman who complained to her nebbish husband the whole time...it was wonderful comic relief...

After St. Maarten, we sailed for 2 days, and there was more eating and drinking and laughter...and we got to watch the Canes beat Ga Tech in the ship's sports bar. A fitting final night!


I made it home in time to watch the Dolphins lose again, and the winning QB Tim Tebow thank Jesus. Oy.

This week, we have Jackson Brown at UM, Canes game Thursday night, and my 25th law school reunion Friday...

Good to be back on land, and in a house where I can freely bend over in the shower...