Life is good.
Goodbyes this morning were hard and I shed a few tears. We had such an amazing experience on that ship!! It felt really strange to disembark just ahead of the passengers staying on for the next cruise. We were part of that group nine times. And, darn, that was much nicer!
All four suitcases that we had checked in for our flight while on the ship (EZ Check) arrived just fine at the baggage carousel at our home airport. I can highly recommend that program. We zipped right through the cruise ship terminal and immigration and customs. It was so nice not to have to find and roll four suitcases through all of that, out to a taxi, into the Fort Lauderdale airport and then stand in line at a ticket counter to check them in. We simply walked through TSA security to our gate. It was well worth $20 per person.
We had some free drink coupons to use on our flights, so I had some Chardonnay. Coupled with cheese crackers, I guess it's kind of like pre-dinner drinks at Skywalkers. Except that this WAS dinner. I foresee tough times ahead as we transition to home and shed the weight we gained.
Thanks to Martha for picking us up. It was a pleasure to walk right from the airport into her warm car. And so good to see her!
We arrived home at 8pm tonight. Everything at the house was fine. We were relieved, but not too surprised. G worked so hard before we left to get everything ready. There is a LOT of snow, but we owe huge thanks to friends and neighbors who cleared our walks and enough of our driveway to make it look like we were home. It was a relief to carry suitcases in without dragging them through the snow. We will have to shovel more...but I'm in no hurry. It will all melt...eventually.
Before we even arrived home, my cell phone rang. Yes, it was JT and Ky. No, they couldn't wait until tomorrow. Yes, they had to see me tonight. So once the water was turned on, the heat turned up and we'd done a walk through at home, I gathered up the presents I'd packed in my carry on, grabbed a flashlight and walked over, hoping to avoid any black ice patches.
OMG it was SO GOOD to see them and their sisters. I missed them!!! They wanted to put their new Piranha Joe t-shirts on right away, so I guess they were a good choice. :-)
It's been a long but uneventful day, the best kind to hope for when traveling across the country. I can't wait, over the next week or so, to get on my computer to have my first look at this blog that I've been emailing my posts to for over 3 months. I can't wait to see what we did. Just as I'd predicted, it's all a blur right now.
But I know it was amazing.