Caribbean Cruise 2014

On our 10th anniversary I was one week away from delivering Lily. We had always wanted to do something fun and memorable for our 10 yr anniversary but since we had to stay in town and close to the hospital (and I was feeling miserable) we elected to celebrate by going to dinner. 

My parents watched the kids and we made our way through town looking for a restaurant that sounded appealing. We drove by all our favorites but everything looked so disgusting to me. Finally I said, “honestly, the only thing that sounds good to me is a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger”. So our 10th Anniversary celebration consisted of driving though Wendy’s.

BJ promised that sometime when we could get away we would do something really memorable for our 10 year celebration. Two years later, on my birthday, BJ surprised me by booking a 7-day Caribbean cruise!It has been  amazing!

I’m writing this as I sit on the balcony of our room, overlooking the beautiful azure waters of the Caribbean. The breeze is warm and slightly humid and the wake of the boat makes gentle waves on the otherwise calm water. Occasionally a flying fish hovers across the water just below. They look like little hummingbirds. In fact, I spent about half of the day wondering how little birds could be out here so far from land before I heard someone talking about the flying fish. They’re incredible and seem to be quite common here in the middle of the ocean.

We sailed on the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas out of Galveston, TX and stopped at Roatan, Honduras, Belize City, Belize, and Cozumel, Mexico. Our captain is Norwegian and BJ and I laugh to ourselves every time he speaks to the passengers. Twice a day he reports the weather, our location, and a few other incidentals. He tries to joke but his accent is so thick and his inflection so jarring, we always laugh whether or not he’s joking. He always reports the miles we have sailed in nautical miles and standard miles. Standard miles he pronounces as “Staugee miles”. Think German-Japanese accent and you’re about there. Norwegian must be a strange language.

Over these 7 days I’ve forgotten what it feels like to be hungry, except for the day in Belize when we went an entire 5 hrs without eating and I nearly passed out. With so much food around us all the time and of every variety it makes me wonder how I have a difficult time figuring out what to make for dinner every night at home.

The food has been delicious! Prime Rib, Lobster, Steak, and Shrimp are just a few of the dinners we’ve enjoying. We have a table to ourselves so every night is like date night at a fancy restaurant. Being able to look at one another and converse over a gourmet dinner that I neither prepare nor clean up is a luxury. The fact that we don’t have any little people climbing on our laps, eating off our plates, crying about the food, or asking for their food to be cut up and fed to them is icing on the cake.    

I think it’s really the little things that have made this such a great trip. 

Just outside Belize City, Belize at some ancient Mayan ruins. Atop the main temple.

At dinner

Over these 7 days I’ve forgotten what it feels like to be hungry, except for the day in Belize when we went an entire 5 hrs without eating and I nearly passed out. With so much food around us all the time and of every variety it makes me wonder how I have a difficult time figuring out what to make for dinner every night at home.

The food has been delicious! Prime Rib, Lobster, Steak, and Shrimp are just a few of the dinners we’ve enjoying. We have a table to ourselves so every night is like date night at a fancy restaurant. Being able to look at one another and converse over a gourmet dinner that I neither prepare nor clean up is a luxury. The fact that we don’t have any little people climbing on our laps, eating off our plates, crying about the food, or asking for their food to be cut up and fed to them is icing on the cake.    

I think it’s really the little things that have made this such a great trip. 

We enjoyed the ports, especially Cozumel, but it has been the freedom to do whatever we’d like that has been the real vacation. My legs haven’t hurt all week! If they started to bother me, I could lay down and look our over the ocean. We went to the gym nearly everyday and didn’t worry about who would watch the kids. We’ve slept in as late as we’d like with no one to come in at 6:30AM to wake us up. In general, it has been so relaxing and refreshing.

Though I’ve loved all the ease and the comforts this trip has also made me realize what a wonderful life we do have. The constancy of parenting sometimes gets me down and wears me out. Too often I get frustrated and wish I could just relax but, the truth is, the life I have is the greatest! I have missed our kids so much. We have pictures of them on our screens and I just can’t look at them or I start to cry. Being away has reminded me that they are my purpose in life. It is all the care, the exhaustion, the tedium, the frustration but also all the laughter, the sweetness, the interest of being consumed by McKay, Benson, and Lily that give purpose and beauty to my life. As I meet people on the ship I am sadded to learn that so many of them aren’t interested in family. They go from distraction to distraction filling their time with themselves. I don’t understand it and I’m grateful I don’t. It seems a terribly empty life; always chasing after happiness but never finding it. I’m grateful to have had this time away to realize that I wouldn’t give up my life, not for a lifetime of cruises.

I guess we all have our “Dorothy” moments where, after walking the yellow brick road awhile, we realize happiness is in Kasas afterall. She’s right, “There’s no place like home.” I can’t wait to hold my babies again and resolve to approach the days with better perspective. To not let frustration get the better of me. To not rush through the tasks of caring for little ones but enjoy the moments within that care. It’s those moments I’ve missed so much this week.

In front of our ship at our final port, Cozumel