It was an ominous journey....

I was worried about taking such a long and detailed trip without someone holding my hand and guiding me through it. Oh sure, travel used to be a routine thing for me. In my work I would hop on a plane to go just about anywhere without a second thought. I've been retired for a while now and travel hasn't been my top priority. We've been on a couple of cruises but never by ourselves. Mike and Nancy, seasoned travelers, guided us through the Alaskan Cruise with experience and confidence. Cody guided us through the Caribbean cruise without any problem. This last cruise was all up to me to follow instructions, get us on the right flight, then on to the right ship without getting lost or arrested. I worried about the trip from the time we received the gift until the moment I got back home and able to sleep in my own bed.

Our trip was a very generous gift from our kids, Jamie and Jennifer, Cody and Cayce. It was planned to be a gift for our 50th anniversary but the boys got nervous we wouldn't live that long. I hope we do and on that anniversary date we will look back on this gift with love and appreciation for the wonderful blessing we have in our children. Now, let me tell you the hidden story, apart from all Debbie's beautiful pictures posted on Facebook.

We left town before the sun came up on a muggy Saturday morning. Cody drove us to the airport because we were to cheap to pay Uber. As we drove toward DFW Airport, Debbie gasped, "Oh no! I forgot my passport!" Cody slowed down and made a u-turn as she said, "Well, wait a minute. Maybe I have it here someplace." He pulled to the side of the road rather than make another u-turn while she gave herself the first of many pat-downs. She eventually found the passport and we were back on our way. This was just a glimmer of what was to be an eventful day.

I'm a 'stand back and watch' kind of guy and although I remembered how to get a boarding pass and hand over the luggage I let Debbie tell me each little detail in sequence as we moved along. In fairness to her, I do move rather slowly and my actions sometimes reflect an ignorance of what's going on around me. Her prompting was appreciated despite the irritation it caused. I got a chuckle though when we got to security. I sailed right through security while hearing Debbie call out to me to "Wait! My boarding pass won't scan....WAIT!!" Unfortunately, having passed through the metal detector, I was not allowed to go back to help her. I watched as she was led back to the ticket counter to get another boarding pass. Then I watched her wait as TSA opened each of her carry-on's, dumping everything out on a table, while searching for illegal whatevers. THEN I watched as they made her spread 'em for a full body pat down. She didn't look like a terrorist but these days you just don't know. She finally cleared security after fifteen minutes of stress on her part. Actually I was nervous too as I watched. I didn't know how I was going to enjoy the cruise without her.

We found out at the last minute that our boys had also paid for first class seating on the flights. It was wonderful! I've flown first class many times when traveling for work but this was a first for Debbie. She was ecstatic and let everyone know this was our first time....as if there was any doubt. As we began the final approach at Logan Airport in Boston Debbie panicked because she couldn't find her phone. I told her we would find it after we landed but she wasn't consoled. She told the flight attendant who did not care at all. She asked the guy in the seat behind us to check the floor. She unbuckled her seatbelt (on final approach) and crawled around on the floor searching. She removed her seat cushion and couldn't figure out how to get it back together....did you know we did not see a life preserver under there as promised!! She finally gave up and buckled up just before we landed. She found her phone in her pocket.

It was late afternoon when we got to our hotel in Boston. We wanted to see some sights but we didn't have a lot of time. We took the subway to the downtown area and as we entered the subway system Deb said she would get the tickets from the kiosk. We both had dozens of $5 bills to cover the $4.50 cost but for some reason she decided to stab a $20 in the machine....it sounded like she had won the big prize on the slot machine when the change of $15.50 started spewing out.....all quarters and dollar coins. Quite a load to carry around. It was exciting to say the least. I paid the tip at Cheers pub with coins. The waitress didn't seem to mind.

At the hotel that night Debbie, ever prepared for anything, started to set her clothes out for the next day's boarding the ship. All of a sudden she let out her classic and copyrighted "Cuuuurappp!" as she discovered she had left her new tennis shoes at home....the very expensive ones she bought specifically for this trip. I didn't forget my new tennis shoes because I didn't buy any for the trip.

When we arrived at the hotel we were instructed to be in the lobby the next morning at 11:15 sharp to board the shuttle for an 11:30 departure to the ship. Debbie insisted we go down early. I was a bit irritated because it was much more comfortable sitting in our room. I'm glad she insisted though because shortly after we arrived in the lobby two large black shuttles pulled up. We stared at them for the longest time wondering who they were taking and why they hadn't left yet. After a while I decided to check with the doorman about our own shuttle. He informed me my shuttle was waiting out front. Debbie and I charged for the front black bus and climbed aboard. Had we waited until we were told to arrive we would have missed our ride. Strike one up for Deb!! The bus we jumped on and the bus right behind us left the hotel at 11:00 a.m. Someone on board asked if there would be another bus arriving at the hotel at 11:30 as planned. The driver answered "no, this is the only one". We felt sorry for those at the hotel who followed the instructions and missed the bus. There were only six of us on board at the time.

One more short story and I won't bore you with the whole trip. On the first day of sailing we slept in because we had partied the night before until way past 9:00 o'clock. We met our table partners at dinner the night before and I was worried we wouldn't be classy enough for them. All I can say is, "Der, nope. Nope we was gooder than gold....no problem at all y'all". I won't say their names or be tacky. I just realized that Debbie and I can come across as very elegant in the right setting. When we went to our cabin that night Debbie started looking for her extra insulin. She tore through her bags in a frantic search and insisted I do the same with my bags. We found no extra insulin. Hopefully she would have enough. Before bed she repeated over and over "I can't believe I left that extra insulin and my new shoes at home". I was sympathetic but I did get tired of her mantra. The next day she opened our room safe to put something away. She yelled, "Would you look at this! How did this get in here?" It was her extra insulin.

I will tell you later about the high seas, hurricane force winds, and seasickness. It was a wonderful adventure. The ports were beautiful and the autumn colors were amazing. I had a chance to enjoy Maine lobster and clam chowder. We will never forget this trip I hope. Surely we can remember it until our 50th anniversary three years from now!

Little League....

I know I've told this story before but I can't remember if I ever posted it to this blog. If you've already heard it I apologize. If not, enjoy the tale.....

Our short stay in Roswell, New Mexico was a true adventure for us. We had never lived where there weren't any trees or creeks. We felt like we had moved to the wilderness and would probably be blown away during one of the dust storms. We had dust in our hair, dust in our clothes, dust on the windowpanes....it was a GREAT adventure. The joy of it was dampened somewhat by mama's constant crying but we tried to overlook that. The third day we were in our new house Glenn and I couldn't help ourselves from chasing the tumbleweeds, which were constantly blowing across the empty lots around us. We blended in with the natives real well as we ran after each weed, caught it, and stored it in our garage. We were so pleased with our efforts we kept them for our dad to see when he came home from work. He was so happy and honored when he opened the door to the garage and found it packed to the ceiling with huge tumbleweeds. I can still hear his happy yelling.

Mama cried for about 14 months. This was a real puzzle to us because we lived in New Mexico for less than 10 months. I guess we all know where our tendency toward depression comes from. Anyway, about my only memory of her was of her sitting at the living room window, looking out, and crying....a lot! We couldn't understand it. After all, there were no trees to block her view, there was this fantastic wind blowing, dust was everywhere, there was an alfalfa field to hide in, there was an old gravel pit a mile south of us where we could ride our bikes like crazy, and there were lots of lizards to chase. What more could the woman want?!

My very best memory of living in New Mexico was having a chance to play little league baseball. I never got to play in Hurst for some reason, that reason being money. Daddy was making a lot of money working in Roswell so we had more to spend on fun stuff. I couldn't believe it when he suggested I sign up for little league.

I went to the ballpark for tryouts and was quickly picked by the "Yankees". The First National Bank of Roswell sponsored us and I have to say their sponsorship was money well spent. We did them proud by winning a game before the season was over! Really! I know why I was picked so quickly during the tryouts. First of all, I was good. I lived for baseball back then and I was darn good. Secondly, I was left-handed. Everyone knows left-handed players are the best. Thirdly, the coach's son was a good friend of mine from school. Oh sure, I know that didn't play into his decision at all but I thought I'd throw it in.

I got to play first base and back up pitcher. I was the best first baseman in Roswell. I have that information as fact from my mama. When she wasn't crying she was telling me I was the best first base player she ever saw. I did not like to pitch though. The few times I tried many young men were damaged severely. I never found out if any of the hits to the head with a hardball caused any permanent damage. We moved back to Texas too soon. You know, we always thought we moved back to Texas due to another transfer for my dad.....could it have been getting out of town to avoid lawsuits? I guess we'll never know...

One day during practice I impressed the coach so much I thought he was going to wet his pants. He had been preaching to us about dedication to the game. He wanted us to really get into it and learn how to play our very best. He wanted us to strive for perfection without fear of pain. He wanted to win a cotton-picking game before the season was over. Anyway, I was standing just west of first base dreaming about some useless subject when a line drive was hit just outside the base line. I ran for it and as I glided through the air I snagged that ball like a pro. I got pretty scratched up in the process but I came up with the ball in my glove. Coach was so excited he stopped practice to tell everyone THAT was the kind of dedication he was talking about. He wanted everyone to play that same way. I didn't have the heart to tell him I tripped over the base on my way for the ball. I didn't catch it. It caught me. If I hadn't tripped I would have missed that ball by a mile.

When we finally won the last game of the season everyone in the park, including the team we beat, gave us a standing ovation. The coach cried. As far as I know he never coached again. You just can't repeat perfection.