Who Do I Think I Am??

This one's about the cruise.

THE PROMPT: "Tell us about a family visit; either you visited them or they visited you. Recently or long ago. Good...or bad."

Good evening everyone...this is a cool little prompt, isn't it? Not morbid or anything, so I dig it.

Back in the day, when I had a family, we did a really wonderful thing that got the entire extended family together. It was Easter week, maybe five or six years ago? Maybe more? Sounds about right. We all got together; there was maybe 70 or 80 of us, I don't know, but we all went on a cruise to the Bahamas.

It was my stepmom's family. She's got four brothers and three sisters (well, one has since passed), so it was them, spouses, kids, damn near everyone. In fact, I can't recall anyone not making the trip, actually.

It was gorgeous the entire week, save for maybe one half-hour stretch where it rained. In order to shave a few bucks off the bill, I roomed with my brother and sister, which really wasn't that bad. Late one night, my brother and I stole the complementary bottle of champagne they put in your room when you first arrive, and we ran roughshod over the entire ship on a pranking spree. On our floor there must've been a high school or church group with a curfew. The chapperones put tape on all of their party's doors to make sure no one was sneaking out at night, and we tore all of the tape down. Probably got some kids into some hot water, but what did we care? It was our vacation!

On one of the islands, a lot of the girls were getting their hair braided. As we were all reconvening for a formal dinner that night, I was standing around talking to some of my cousins when one of my aunts showed up with these crazy funky braids that totally looked weird on her (she's a native Korean). I took one look at her and busted out with, "Wow, who invited Coolio to the party?" and everyone busted out laughing. Yeah, I'm a jerk.

But really, it was definitely a fun trip. That's my preferred method of vacationing now, although I've yet to go on another one. It was nice waking up at about nine or ten am, having breakfast waiting for you, and then chilling poolside with the uncles over some reasonably-priced adult beverages while trying to decide what activities you were gonna persue in the afternoon and evening; see an island, go on a tour, see any of the attractions on the ship, hit the casino, or just have another drink by the pool.

The most amazing part? That it may have been the first and probably last time the entire family will have gotten together like that in any way, shape or form. So much has happened since then, between deaths and divorces. Really, the only people I talk to anymore are a bunch of cousins, and we really only just catch up on Facebook. So many have moved out of town that even simple things can't be done, like just grabbing a cup of coffee. But it's nice to have that experience and those memories. I guess it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

MUSICAL BREAK!!

Who invited Coolio?

VITAL STATS:

Here's a fun little human interest story...about the merits of getting up at a reasonable hour, which I'm not prone to do when it's my day off. I got up at around nine-ish, screwed around a little and jumped on Facebook. An old friend that used to live down the street from me in elementary school, who I haven't seen since before graduation, posted that he was giving away his old 32" RCA tv for free to anyone who would come and take it off his hands. So I jumped on it. We exchanged a few messages, got his address (which isn't that far from me), and we had a deal. I hopped in the Saturn Ion (which surprisingly fit the monster of a tv), made a stop at Tim Horton's for some coffees and Timbits for him, his girl and their adorable daughter (I'm not gonna show up empty-handed when someone's being so kind and generous), and we lugged that big tv down a flight of stairs and got it into the car. We don't need another tv, but we'll probably put it in our room and give the one we have now to one of the boys for their room. I'm very thankful to this man, who like I said, I haven't seen in ages, but was fortunate to remain in touch with via Facebook. A very cool thing he did...and I hope to position myself to pay it forward someday.

That's really it for today, kind people who've made it this far. Other than a nap, not much else went on today. Looks like the woman just came home from her vacation, so I guess I should be saying hi or something to her, so I'll catch up with you later. Peace, and GOODNIGHT NOW!!

Wow...forgot about how many f-bombs there were in that song.