Southern Caribbean Cruise; Our first get-away without Ethan
Our first cruise was also our first extended getaway without Ethan. We've gone away for a weekend or overnight since Ethan was born, but this time we would be gone for 11 days. That is an eternity to a six year old. Ohio weather right before we planned to leave was behaving as it always does, cold with daily snowstorms. Though I worried about leaving Ethan for more than a week, let's be truthful, I was more worried that we would miss the ship if our flight got cancelled. When we booked this trip, it seemed that arriving near the port one day before the ship set sail would give us plenty of time. But, with all these snow storms and flight cancellations, maybe we should have planned to land in Florida two days before the ship left port.
In the days leading up to the cruise, I became obsessed with watching weather and flight reports. Since my parents have a place about 40 minutes north of Port Everglades, I figured there was no point in taking any chances. We would stay with them one night and our hotel near the Port the next night. I bought one-way tickets out of Ohio to the cheapest and closest airport to Port Everglades that I could find at that moment. Then, I called my parents and told them we would need a ride from Fort Myers and asked if they could pick us up. For those who do not know their geography, Fort Myers is on the opposite side of the state of Florida. My parents are retired, they were more than happy to drive two hours and pick us up, especially since they hadn't seen us since Christmas.
We still had to get out of Ohio, however. I was at my office well after 7 p.m. with a lot of work left to do, when it occurred to me that we were leaving the next day, bright and early, and I would only have a couple hours with Ethan that night. I set my pen down and left the office, not even sure what was being left unfinished. Finally, I was on my way home. It was bitter cold and the temperature was below-zero. I was thinking about how nice the warm sunshine and this cruise would be. BAM! My entire dashboard glowed red and it looked like my front right tire was blown. I did not want to stop. I wanted to be home. I called Jamie who had just arrived home with Ethan, and told him that "something might have happened to my tire." I could hear the annoyance in his voice as he told me to pull off somewhere in a parking lot and wait until he could get to me. I hate waiting for anything. I kept reassuring him that it was not that bad until he told me to just meet him at the gas station near our home.
I could tell from the sound of the BAM! and the fact that I had no control over my steering wheel that my front tire was gone. But I just wanted to be home. I didn't care if I was driving on rims, on ice, because, to me, at that moment, the sooner I got home the closer we were to VACATION!! I finally pulled into the gas station near our home. Jamie was standing there, still in his work clothes, looking tired, while Ethan was in the back seat looking excited. Jamie quietly mentioned something about today being the coldest day of the year so far. I shrugged my shoulders, and didn't say a word; it's not like I planned this. I watched Jamie as he crouched near my tire with the air hose. I saw his face change as he stared at the tire without moving...
You see, Jamie is an auto mechanic. A highly trained, twenty-plus year auto mechanic. He knows when I bounce my car off curbs or when I hit pot holes head on, because he can tell when my alignment is off. It's hard to get away with doing stupid stuff in my car and he doesn't find out. He took one look at my tire and said, "The sidewall is blown out and torn apart from your driving on it." He was not happy. My impatience turned a simple tire patch into a new tire purchase. He drove my car back to our house, and I drove his. We got home and he was pissed. But pissed in the way Jamie gets pissed. He doesn't say anything, but by his quiet, I know he is really, really disappointed in me. I hate that.
To make matters worse, my high-end car that I was driving at that time with all the fancy bells and whistles started malfunctioning. For example, the rear hatch had an auto-close button. Jamie took out the spare tire, and pressed the button which was supposed to gently close the hatch. The hatch would go down, but it wouldn't catch. Instead, it rose back up, slowly, mocking him. He calmly pressed the button again; the hatched closed, then slowly rose again. This happened about four times. I could see the look in his eyes, and I could tell he wanted to slam the hatch closed again, and again and again and curse at it, but Ethan and I were standing there watching him fix the mess I had made, so he calmly pushed the button again. It would not close.
I know I should have been more sympathetic, but the one thing I wanted today was to be home. I was now home. I know the tire needed replaced, but we were leaving tomorrow, so let the car sit in the garage for a week with the hatch open. Who cares? We are going on VACATION! Watching the hatch raise for the fifth or sixth time, I started to laugh, and Jamie looked at me in that way I've learned is him wishing that, just once, he could get away with punching me. I calmly asked if this could wait since we were leaving tomorrow. Eventually, the hatch closed, the spare tire was put on and the car was parked. We were glad to be leaving this cold and snow behind for awhile.
We made it to Florida without any problems and my parents met us at the airport. The airport two hours away from their home. Jamie planned this cruise with another couple we have known for about twenty years and all of their friends whom they have known since high school days. It was the best of both worlds--we weren't completely alone on the ship, but the group we were with was not counting on us to be entertainment. The day before the ship was scheduled to leave, we started receiving text messages with updates about our fellow travelers whose flights were cancelled and who were getting re-routed from various Ohio airports to New York, or Chicago, or one couple who could only find a flight into Jacksonville, Florida, forcing them to drive the rest of the way to Port Everglades. We were relieved to be reading these texts while sitting at a beach side cafe. We had arrived in Florida two days before the ship was set to leave, and I could not have been happier. We were going to make it on the ship.
During our cruise, we visited Princess Cays, Aruba and Curacao. This was our first real vacation as a couple in six years. At one point Jamie and I laughed when after a night of dinner, drinking and dancing, we both realized that we had forgotten how much fun we always have together. We did everything and nothing that week. Cruises are nice that way. There's only a few things a couple can do during those "at sea" days, and when you are in port, there's plenty to do and see. I did not realize how cruises are a perfect combination of sightseeing and relaxing. We still laugh at the last picture we took on the ship. We purchased the unlimited drink package, and we got every penny's worth. In the picture, we are in our room, suntan, bloated from too much food and drink; and though it's not even noon, I am holding a cocktail. It it is clear we are having a great time.
