There is a UHaul in my driveway. It's a Penske, but just like I call Pepsi "Coke", I call the Penske a Uhaul. So anywho, the Uhaul is there. It's full of everything we own. Furniture and memories are locked safely inside. I'm still in Springfield, Illinois. I've lived here for 15 years give or take. In 4 days, I will be at my new home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
This is all happening so fast and at the same time, not nearly fast enough. We went to California knowing we would live there. California turned out not to be in the stars. Blame me. Blame anything but know what I do; California is not my home.
We went on a vacation. First was Disney in Orlando. For a hotel guy like me that was a primitive joy. Everything is perfect. Everything is magical. We loved it as we always will. Then came our first, and God willing not last, Bahamas cruise. More in a minute on that. Then we went to Fort Lauderdale. I knew it wasn't going to work out. I knew I would mess it up or something would cause my dream to fizzle out leaving just us in a midwest town we hate.
But the stars aligned. We found a place. We got a lease. And now, sitting here I can hear a clock ticking to my left. In my mind I know it ticks down the few hours remaining of our old life and the hours until our new life is born.
More on Fort Lauderdale in a future post to those of you who probably will never read these words. Right now, my mind is hovering on the Carnival Sensation.
I've never been on a cruise. I had never experienced the open ocean. On October 2, 2011 that all changed. We boarded the awesome Sensation.
So we left Disney and drove to Port Canaveral. That's when we first saw her.
That was what we saw. I parked 20 feet from this picture. What a huge beast. Now comes Customs. Oh, never dealt with border patrol before. Sure, laptop is not in that bag. No, no fruits or vegetables or drugs here. We're done? Then time to check in. Five minutes later, a happy woman who was a cheerleader 30 years ago entertained us while we waited to board. Ten minutes later, we are on the Lido deck. Lunch and beer and time to wait until the cabin (E244) is done.
We walked the ship from Deck 12 to Deck 7. There's the pool. There's the putt-putt. There's the stage. If you know me, you know my next move. I walked on center stage. Only Bob saw me acting like a kid again. Thanks God. That was the first of many times I would giggle. I don't giggle.
Here's the shops. Here's the casino that we won't ever use. And in the background, there is NASA. I remember when NASA meant we were explorers.
The cabin is ready. we walk quickly to see room E244.
I will tell you more but now it's time to wait. I have packing to do tomorrow. I have a new life I need sleep for. So stay tuned. More later.
