Cruisin'

Over Spring Break I went on a cruise with my sister.  We were very excited since neither of us had ever gone on a cruise before.  And we were looking forward to some "girl time" where we could laugh and talk and not do dishes or laundry or work for a few days.
I should have known we were in for trouble when we went to Target together a few days before we left for Miami.  Sis thought we needed a couple of new sundresses to take with us.  We each chose one and headed for the dressing room.  I went into the first empty one I saw and started undressing.  I heard Sis saying she would have to wait because there were no dressing rooms free.  "Well, come in here with me," I replied through the door.  "There's plenty of room."
And then I threw open my dressing room door to see a woman wearing a black dress and a stunned expression as she tried not to stare at my biscuit-dough belly.
She was not my sister.
I gathered as much dignity as one can wearing only a bra, panties, and ankle socks, and slammed the door.
My sister was a few steps down, crying-laughing.
I wish that was the end of the story, but before we left that dressing room I had not only exposed myself to a stranger, but also tried to get into a dressing room that was not mine, opening the door (why wasn't it locked??) on some poor girl whose face I (thankfully) did not see.  We left Target with a few new laugh wrinkles, but no new clothes.
Undeterred we packed our old shorts and swimsuits and flew to Miami where we got in a thousand-person line to board the Carnival Imagination.  Ahead of us was a group of Asians in matching yellow and orange windbreakers.  And behind us were two gals who must not have gone to first grade because they obviously didn't know how to stand in a line.  They were pushing and yelling at each other and kept bumping into Sis' back.  Just when I thought we were gonna have a smackdown, the line moved and we were going through ship security and walking up the gangplank.  We found our room and then headed for the food.
And the ship slid slowly away from the dock and out to sea.

We explored the ship (which means we got lost lots of times).  We ate tons of good food.  We went to a comedy show and drank fruity umbrella drinks and watched a guy propose to his girlfriend.  We changed clothes a lot.

And we laughed.
We explored Key West...

And we laughed.
We conquered Cozumel....

And we laughed.  Mostly she laughed at me.  I can't help it if I'm sensitive to the sun.  I considered wearing a burqa, but couldn't find one colorful enough for Mexico.

We talked and shopped and ate and drank and wondered how our steward, Winston, could make animals out of towels.

Eventually our ship turned toward home and we made sure to squeeze every drop of fun and sun out of the last day at sea.

Tired, but happy, we got back on the plane and attempted to leave Miami.  Two delays and lots of turbulence later all the "happy" I had stored up on the bonnie blue sea was evaporating into the blue sky.  When the stewardess finally made it to our seats with her cart, I considered asking for a parachute.  But instead I just made do with a Coke.  I was hungry, tired, and I really had to pee.
Then my sister pulled out the camera, and we started going through the pictures.  Soon we were laughing like we always do.

And then we were pulling our rolling suitcase through the airport where my sweet, thoughtful Man was waiting with a bouquet of fresh flowers for me (He always does this when he picks me up from the airport).  Only this time he had two bouquets...one for each of us girls.
And our skies were blue again.
I missed Hubby and the kids.  But I'm glad I made memories with my sister.  Cruisin' through life is easier when we're in the same boat.