Indisposed

Steve and I have an unofficial Bucket List, places we'd like to see before we die.  Places we see in movies or in airline magazines, or hear about from others who have been.  Ever since I saw An Affair to Remember (and more recently Love Affair) I've wanted to travel along the southern coast of Europe and stop off to see my nonexistant French grandmother, Janou, whose house overlooks the Riviera.  It was in that "someday" category because I figured a cruise like that would probably be two weeks long and a million dollars, so it would be a while before we could swing it either way.

But when Steve's mom (bless her heart) offered to come during her spring break to watch Olivia so we could get away for our tenth anniversary, we couldn't bear the thought of being without our darling baybay started thinking about places on our List: Ireland, Eleuthera, Bora Bora...  Steve had found a funny and interesting book at the library that gives a behind-the-scenes look at working on a cruise ship, so that made us want to take another cruise.  Before long I was looking at various port combinations and found a 7-night Eastern Mediterranean cruise including Venice, Adriatic Croatia (which was high on my List), ancient Ephesus, and a couple of Greek islands.  Score!  Sign us up.

That was October, and we have been patient.  All winter I've been seeing the Carnival ads with voice-over by Jim Halpert about how when you're out on the high seas you're a different person.  We cruised the Western Caribbean on Carnival and it was fun, the food was good, and we didn't get seasick.  And Carnival is like the entry level of cruise lines, so I'm really looking forward to Royal Caribbean.  Mostly the food, I will admit.  I'm excited to have Greek food in Greece.  And it is my dream to be able to work the following into conversation...  "Remember that time we went cliff diving in Dubrovnik?"

And of course we're not really getting to see much of Italy other than a half day in Venice between the airplane and boat, so we'll probably have to leave Italy, Barcelona, the Côte d'Azur, and Monaco (which was added after seeing To Catch a Thief) on our List. 

So, if you think of it, pray for my dear in-laws who will be here in a house not their own, caring for Olivia, our sweet little girl who has started arching her back and kicking her feet in response to horrible things I inflict on her, like lunch and clean diapers.  My parents are helping out as well, and I am full of gratitude for all of them.  Incidentally, while we were planning our trip my parents booked a Mediterranean cruise of their own, later this year, a reunion of the singles group where they met.