It will surprise no one that knows me that, early one morning on a sea day last February, while watching the sun rise off the back of the Emerald Princess, I made a list of everything- and how many everythings- I'd used over the course of our 120 days at sea. Yes, I know that's ludicrous, to spend a beautiful morning at sea that way, but now, 8 months later and preparing to cruise again, that list is worth its file size in gold.
What was familiar to me last March is long forgotten now. What did I use and what could I leave at home? What got broken/ruined and needed to be fixed/replaced (there were a lot of those things)? What worked well and not at all? No worries; it's all there on the list.
It did suddenly occur to me in mid-September that I had not yet gotten around to the list of items to be repaired (I was waiting until schools opened to venture back into a bead store), and so I took advantage of a rainy morning and spent it at the local bead store, drinking coffee, re-threading multiple bracelets, listening to New Age music on their satellite radio and generally chillin' (huge sigh of contentment here). And, guess what? We found a jewelry repair with a laser welder when we returned home, and my favorite enamel earrings were able to be repaired. I guess I don't need those Belle Etoile angel fish earrings we saw in St. Thomas after all. Damn.
It did suddenly occur to me in mid-September that I had not yet gotten around to the list of items to be repaired (I was waiting until schools opened to venture back into a bead store), and so I took advantage of a rainy morning and spent it at the local bead store, drinking coffee, re-threading multiple bracelets, listening to New Age music on their satellite radio and generally chillin' (huge sigh of contentment here). And, guess what? We found a jewelry repair with a laser welder when we returned home, and my favorite enamel earrings were able to be repaired. I guess I don't need those Belle Etoile angel fish earrings we saw in St. Thomas after all. Damn.
The lists continue (what you're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg)...here are the items we need to purchase in Fort Lauderdale, mostly things that are too heavy to pack or banned by the airlines. This winter, we won't get to shop until several days into our cruise, so we have to pack enough of everything to make do until we do.
And since our first few trips to the beach last winter were complicated a bit by trying to remember what to pack in our beach bag, I made a list for that, too. By December this is second nature, but it feels very foreign the first time around.
Once September arrives, it's common for friends to ask if we've started to pack yet. The truth is that we now live in a state of perpetual packing. Whenever I hit a big "event" or sale, and stock up, usually for the whole year, I set aside the appropriate number of things in a spare bedroom for our cruises. Double Pure Privilege points at Aveda on Mothers Day weekend; Bath and Body Works' semi-annual sale in June; $15 annual liter sale at Ulta; Target Red Card bonus coupons; Lands End's end-of-summer swimwear sale...each one increases the size of the "packing pile" and brings me one step closer to cruise readiness. By October it's just a matter of taking formalwear to the cleaners and putting things in suitcases.*
Life is good!
*And pulling up the garden and annuals, and emptying the flower planters, and cutting back perennials and raking leaves and emptying gutters, and lots of last minute medical/dental appointments, and, oh yeah, this fall we ripped off and replaced the trim and painted the exterior of our house. Just some things to keep us busy right up until the minute we leave for the airport!
Life IS good. Hard sometimes, but my time's coming!