Final Chapter more stuff gets in my eye.
Apparently at 11:30 pm the night before we dock back at Port Canaveral the boat gets surprisingly quiet. Lionel and I wandered up on deck, hand in hand, and enjoyed our boat for one last serene moment. We passed maybe 3-4 other people up on deck. I assume everyone else was exhausted from the packing marathon, or maybe that was just me.
It is a strange time to be up on deck, when everything is closed down. It was dark. And incredibly calm. And strikingly beautiful. We almost felt like talking would ruin the moment, but then we went and opened our big mouths anyway and started making all kinds of silly little comments to each other. You know geeks they cant just have a moment without trying to make the other one snort. I poked his belly, he licked my face, and Im sure if there were other people witnessing this they might have thought Im so glad they found each other, because hoooooo, boy
..
Lionel noticed that the quiet cove pool was officially open for another 15 minutes. For a brief moment we considered jumping in, but then recalled that we had only the clothing on our backs to wear tomorrow (the rest of it having been jammed into the suitcase and zipped as I sat on top of it asking it who its momma was), and the thought of squirming into cold, wet garments
yeah not so appealing.
Clearly, we were no longer drunk.
We opted instead to sit on the edge with our feet in the water. And then we did the strangest thing of all we talked about life.
We talked about our marriage so far, and about our current kids (Oscar and Noggin, dogs of justice), and about raising a HUMAN family. We also talked about how this vacation had been significant not only because we were celebrating our anniversary TWO MONTHS EARLY, but because it would be the last one for us before we moved on to the next stage in our lives taking over the world.
I mean, having babies. Same difference, really.
NEXT time we cruise, I will be a mom. Lionel will be a dad. Well be sharing our love of
DCL with another living being who was possibly even created on this cruise (but we will never EVER tell them that or they wont set foot on the boat again once they are old enough to know what S-E-X is, but it doesnt really matter because we dont do that, remember? Especially not in the spa
.)! This cruise had significance because it was the last all-out completely selfish party for US and only us. So THATS why I was one of those people last rites.
Im not saying we cant still drink, or go to the spa, or go out in the ocean on jet skis when we have children
..no wait, we really cant go out in the ocean on jet skis, because I will NEVER LET SUCH A THING HAPPEN AGAIN. Im just saying that this is the last time in our lives when we will not be responsible for another human being. Sure, Mommy can slug it back all she wants but when that pager goes off, shed better be ready to handle the consequences without falling over on the way to Flounders Reef. Know what I mean?
Up on the deck having this conversation with my husband, I got very sentimental and teary because even though this was a fantastic vacation, I could not wait to get home and get on to the next stage. I imagined sharing the vacation with a smaller version of him, and despite how scary that prospect might sound to some of you, I still couldnt wait for it to happen.
Now, if it so happens that we get a smaller version of ME, then he will spend the entire cruise making sure all of the skin on her body is completely hidden from view so that no boys will look at her in THAT WAY. I can hear them now:
But MOM gets to wear a bikini!
Yeah, well, MOM is OLD.
Touche.
I snuggled a little closer to him and put my head in the nook. I closed my eyes and smiled to myself, taking every little bit of that moment in and vowing to remember it for as long as I lived.
We wandered back to our room and took one last view of the ocean from the veranda. The smell of the salt air was intoxicating. I leaned out a little and looked along the side of the ship towards the front of the boat, only to see several other sets of heads poking out here and there. We were all soaking in every last little bit of magic that we could before we finally called it a night.
We slept peacefully that night, until the sound of the phone ringing jarred us out of bed at 7 am see ya real soon, hu-huh!
Mickey, I do love you, but if you dont shut up RIGHT now you are in danger of hearing some choice words that you didnt even know existed. CLICK. I rolled over and looked deep into Lionels bright red eyes. SIGH. Im taking a shower.
Well, I packed my shampoo. FANTASTIC. At least I had a hat
oh wait, that was in the luggage too. Ah well. Did it really matter at this point? I rinsed off, got dressed, and popped out onto the veranda for one last view while Lionel went for his shampoo-less shower. Oh yeah, we docked already. So much for the view!
Man, debarkation day was off to a really crappy start!
Still, I hung out on the veranda for awhile longer, watching all of the food get loaded which, by the way, was fascinating. I highly recommend taking time out of your final mornings craziness to peek over the port side of the boat if not just to take in the sheer amount of pineapples.
I mean, look at them all! Crazy.
With Lionel out of the shower and with all of our worldly possessions in a cargo hold somewhere, we headed up to Cove Café for one last mochaccino. Yes, by the grace of God they were open until 8 am! We paused outside the Cove for a few brief moments with the intention of getting all sentimental again, but the atmosphere in Port Canaveral was just not conducive to sappiness and we ended up just going down to Animators Palate for breakfast.
What a sad, sad place that is first thing in the morning. Stark, bright, and somehow with stickier chairs. You know how you should not wear white after Labor Day? Well, you also should not sit on a vinyl chair before 9 am. Its one of those unwritten rules.
Breakfast was a set menu, and they were ridiculously efficient in their service (heres your food now GO! We have a boat to clean.) The idea of lingering seemed only to be delaying the inevitable, and we were all pretty bummed out as it was, so we bid farewell to our wonderful servers and headed on down to the atrium.
Where we lingered.
DONT MAKE ME LEAVE!!!! I pouted, stomped my feet and tried out the puppy dog eyes. No dice. The crew has seen it all, I am certain.
I looked around desperately for somewhere I could hide. I had thought this through carefully
..sleep on the deck at odd hours, or even in the movie theatre during shows, shower in the spa changing area, eat during the buffets, and bribe someone to buy me some rum to mix in with the sodas on deck 9. This could work!
Lionel killed that idea. Something about wanting me back home with him, the dogs missing me, my patients needing me back at work, blah blah blah.
Fine. Remember this the next time you ask me to hang around with you at the game store.
Stepping off of the boat was not as heart wrenching as I had anticipated. Walking through the terminal, there were many signs that said see you real soon! and I nodded to them you bet your sweet you-know-what you will. Customs was so easy that I regretted throwing away that rice-crispie that I had discovered earlier in my bag (uneaten, from the
Castaway Club reception). We were out at the car approximately 20 minutes after having walked off of our floating paradise. It was over. Really over. *sigh*
I took this on the way out of the terminal:
Isnt she beautiful?
And my daughter is still a good baby!
But even then they know thier limits. When hyper it is time for the kids deck on the ship! Run till you drop over and sleep my children. 
And if cranky? Well a nap does everyone good as you mentioned. I am also a big believer in the power of a nap. 
Erica, please take another cruise! We all here need to keep reading your stuff! *hands over Amex....*
Not one of THOSE!
