Shoe Collection is Safe and Sound

When Chicken Little and The Blonde Bombshell prepared for Mexico I was worried. It's hard to blend in with a Blonde Bombshell. My fear was a drug Lord would see her as the perfect opportunity to take us hostage and make some cash with ransom. In the event the worst happened, my husband had my permission to sell my shoe collection in order to raise money to get us back..... Assuming he wanted me back. Shortly after we landed he knew I, as well as my shoe collection, would live to see another day. Yay for safe travel.

Here Fishy Fishy

After watching Shark Week, what would make a better vacation than having an up close and personal experience with something bitey and dangerous. Not up close and personal enough to lose a limb, but I already have a logo arm so a little puncture wound on the other arm would balance things out. Barbara and I were swimming in the ocean.... Let me clarify that, she was standing and I have this weird thing about being in the ocean.... I like to bob up and down, I twirl and swirl and yes I even do some amazing dance moves where no one but the fish can see. Barbara was laughing at me..... "Jac, you are such a dork."  This I know, but I am a fun dork and nothing brings out the child in me like the ocean and snow. Those two things make me literally giggle like a tiny child. Actually, I may mentally be a tiny child stuck in an over sized adult body (who knows) but I do love, love, love to bop up and down and twirl around in the ocean. So I'm twirling and Barbara is contemplating the meaning of life when we both spot two fins sticking out of the water swimming just outside the swimming area. Barbara heads toward the beach where everyone is pointing and I (being a dork I suppose) head straight for the fins. I I get pretty close to where the fins are and then they cross over the buoys that define the swimming area. It was in the swimming area of the resort next to our resort and I was just about to swim under the buoy when I heard a frantic voice yelling at me.... I guessed it was me because no one else was in the water. I looked over my shoulder to see the manager of the resort waving his arms and telling me...... "NO, NO!" and waving me back to the beach..... "Darn it!" He was shaking his head and demanding I come back to the beach. "Great, just great. I was that close to seeing a fish I had never seen before. What a spoil sport." I drag myself up to the beach, head hung in shame because I felt like a

reprimanded first grader. Thankfully the manager took his little clipboard and headed back to the resort where people with real needs (like extra soap and towels) truly need his expertise. A few minutes later the little guy at the watch tower opened up for business. We had seen this fish at a distance the day before and I asked him about it. He had pulled it up on his cell phone to show me what it looked like. He said it was often mistaken for a shark but it wasn't dangerous and he had never seen one actually cross the buoys and enter the swimming area. He laughed at me when I told him about my scolding. He had already figured out I was up for an adventure. Later in the day we were back on the beach. It was our last day and I did not want to spend it just laying on a chase lounge chair. I wanted to do something. Barbara asked our little guy if he would take us out on the catamaran so he loaded the two of us up and we headed out into the ocean. Oh my gosh!!!! The ocean is paradise. He took us far, far out, but the water was crystal blue and you could see all the way down. We reached a sand bar where the water was pretty shallow and so clear it looked fake. He asked.... "Who is jumping in first?" Then he said.... "I will, I will be first." I jumped up and yelled.... "I'm right behind you buddy." Barbara looked disinterested and said.... "I'm fine right here, you two have fun, I'm staying right here." Really? "Barbara, we are here to face your fears. This is paradise. The water is perfect, it is amazing, you have to do it." Finally, probably out of pure desire to shut me up, she jumped in and you could see her whole body relax..... "Oh, this is amazing." She said..... "See, I told you so. You wouldn't want to miss this." We swam and giggled and felt like we could reach up and brush the face of God right there in the middle of the ocean. There are two places I feel the presence of God the most..... In the ocean and in the mountains.  These two places define the essence of God's majesty on earth.... At least for me. When we finished basking in the beauty of the ocean, we headed back. We learned all about our guide, his family, and how happy and content he seemed in his life. He was so sweet. When we pulled up on the beach, Barbara headed for the lounge chairs while I talked to our guide. His co-worker came out of the tower speaking frantic Spanish and waving his arms.  Obviously he had something exciting or terrifying to tell.  Finally the guide stopped him long enough to explain to me that his co-worker had been out by the buoys snorkeling when a barracuda attacked his flipper. He said it scared him to death and he fought it off but the barracuda became even more mad and attacked his flipper a second time. I was a little suspicious.... "If he got attacked, why didn't it get his leg?" I asked.... "The flipper looked more appealing to the barracuda than the leg. He swims out here every day and it scared him to death." I'm weird, and got really excited..... "Give me some snorkling gear. I want to go out. I want to see the barracuda." He shook his head..... "Oh no Ma'am, you cannot do that. Barracuda's are very dangerous." Regardless of how I pleaded and begged neither one would give me snorkling gear. I was so disappointed.... All I wanted to do was to see it, knowing it would make an awesome blog post. They would have none of it. I walked out toward the buoys, but everything was calm.... No barracuda, no fins. The guide told me I should come back in February when the bull sharks come. He said they go diving with them which sounds awesome. So, that's my "Almost saw something dangerous" story. Sorry it wasn't more gorey, but I have to keep things real.

Finding Hope

Wednesday was what the trip to Cancun was all about. The process of grief is a long lonely journey. I have seen people emotionally die when their loved one was taken, and I have seen others slowly rebuild their lives, not as it was, but as it now is. As one watching the process.... My Father and Barbara, as well as others, it is always my prayer that they will find the fortitude to put one foot in front of the other and make the ones who have passed from this world to the next proud of them. They will never be forgotten, and I believe their memory lives on through every adventure, every hurdle, every victory the one still living this life conquers. That was what this trip was about. Wednesday was Barbara's birthday.... The first birthday without John... "Don't let me be sad Jac.... I don't want to be sad." As a fixer with a million opinions about a million different things, I was terrified I would fail terribly at keeping Barbara from being sad. All I could do was my silly best and hope that paradise worked its beautiful magic. We had "A couple's spa" day planned, making it perfectly clear that I had a husband at home and she was the "Birthday Girl" Not that I really cared what people thought, but I thought it would be nice if we

all had an understanding of the circumstances surrounding the celebration. We arrived at the spa to a warm wonderful welcome. The aqua area was beautiful. A young man treated us to a foot scrub. He than lead us into a sauna where we steamed for 12 minutes. Then we proceeded to a series of shower; the cold waterfall shower, the mint mist shower, the mixed jets shower, and my favorite was the ice cold bucket shower. This one was particularly fun because he let me pull the chain on Barbara's bucket which brought me much delight... Her, not so much. Then we walked through what looked liked baptismal pools, one hot, one cold. We had to walk through alternating pools three times. From there we went to the dry sauna, and from there to the ice chamber where they rubbed ice on the bottoms of our feet and palms. That's a lot of water! Finally we made it to our massages where I'm pretty sure I drooled while they worked on my back, and later I woke myself up snoring (actually more of a serene purr). They woke us up with the smell of mint and monk chimes. They wrapped us in robes, put hot rice packs around our neck and escorted us to a room I could imagine Cleopatra lounging in. There were beautiful couch/beds with chocolate covered strawberries and champagne waiting for us. It was pretty close to heaven. That was just the first half of the day. When we got to our room, a knock on the door was room service with a chocolate mouse birthday cake and more champagne. I'll leave the squeals and giggle second half of the day for another post. It is safe to say that I saw moments of sadness in Barbara's eyes at times, but more importantly I saw lots of hope in her eyes. Hope that life could be good. Hope that John would be proud, and hope that more smiles and happiness lay ahead. I saw her realize all she had to do was reach out and be willing to wrap her fingers around hope when and where she found it. 

Blondes Going in Circles

We arrived to the resort just before lunch. Check in wasn't until 3 so we had some time to kill. We went to the grill that looks over the water and ordered lunch. They sat us on the platform overlooking the water and told us we were queens for the day. The scene was beyond beautiful.... so serene. We swam in the ocean and I looked like a lobster before we checked in. After we checked in, we dressed for dinner and sat on the beach after dark. We decided to call it a night so we headed back to the room. We stayed on the 2nd floor. We got in the elevator and pushed 2. When the doors opened we were in front of room 302. Oops, maybe we get there from the 1st floor so we pushed 1. The doors opened in front of room 320. We repeated the process to all 4 floors and each time the doors opened to room 3??  Seriously, I felt us move, I know the elevator went up and the down.... Why are we not going anywhere. Finally we found a worker who directed us to our room which is, yet is not, on any of the floors. I still think someone was filming the two blondes going in circles like only blondes can do. But if they were filming then they were sure to see how much fun we had going in circles 

Port 1... Key West

The first port on our Magic cruise vacation was Key West. We chose the hop on hop off tour. The tour took us to historic sites, and explained the history behind Key West which was quite interesting. In 1860 wrecking made Key West the largest and richest city in Florida and the wealthiest town per capita in the U.S. A number of the inhabitants worked salvaging shipwrecks from nearby Florida reefs. Numerous vessels would patrol along the Florida Reef looking for wrecks. The wreckers would normally anchor at night in protected anchorages

along the Keys, and then sail out in the morning to see if any ships had wrecked during the night. As a result, a ship that ran on the reef during the night might attract a dozen wreckers by the afternoon of the next day. The first wrecking captain to reach a stranded ship became the wreck master, determining how many wreckers he needed to help salvage the ship, and directing the operation. Wreckers had an obligation to save passengers and crew of the wrecked ship which differentiated the "salvaging" from outright piracy. The wreck master would then salvage as much of the cargo as possible, then take it back to Key West to be auctioned. Key West is a quaint

town. The streets are lined with pastel little houses trimmed in gingerbread designs, one of my all time architectural favorites of that time period. We toured the Shipwreck museum. Then we toured the aquarium where we got to pet and feed the stingrays. There would be pictures of this event, but all you can see in the pictures is us
leaning over into the pool with our larger than life butts sticking up in the air. They are not attractive pictures. After the feeding and petting of the stingrays, I got to hold a baby alligator. He seemed quite comfortable perched upon my arm with his mouth taped shut. I just hope the tape thing didn't give my husband any ideas. Looking at the beautiful fish made me all the more excited for our snorkeling excursion scheduled for the next day. My friend and I browsed some shops in spite of the totally bored looks we received from our men, and I did not buy a single pair of shoes... Just a itty bitty purse. So, hubby was happy and I was a happy little seal.

Inspiration on the High Seas

We sat listening to a live band in the Oceanside lounge. They were a talented little group who could sing anything from Foreigner to Patsy Cline without skipping a beat. Couples were dancing, while others just sat there tapping there foot. Me? Well, I was listening, people watching and pouting about the F-birthday that ends with a zero coming up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, why whine about it when you're spending Valentines day and your birthday on a cruise, but its my birthday and I'll cry (or pout) if I want to. I was watching the keyboard player just as he looked over to the female vocalist and mouthed "Saturday Night Fever" to which she nodded and turned to the guitarists and drummer to pass on the information. They

transitioned into the disco beat of Saturday night fever and more people poured onto the dance floor. One woman immediately caught my attention. She had abandoned her walker and was shaking her groove thang on the dance floor. Her smile was the size of Texas, her lipstick perfectly in place as was her white hair that matched the white blouse she was wearing. She wore stylish, yet comfortable looking rubber soled shoes. Women like myself wished our shoes felt as comfortable as hers looked, but height and comfort don't always go hand in hand, which was probably why she was on the dance floor and I was sitting on the side watching the action take place. She wasn't just up there bouncing her shoulders up and down with the beat, she was movin, groovin and kickin it pretty high. She hung with the best of them until the last beat and when the music ended she exited the dance floor to a round of applause. I leaned over to my husband and whisperer/shouted like you do in a club...."I wanna be just like her when I grow up!" The next morning I was standing in the omelet line when who strolled up beside me hanging onto her walker, but the Dancing Queen herself. I just couldn't keep it to myself as I began to gush with admiration for her dancing and general attitude. I'm sorry, I know it may have been rude but I just had to ask the burning question....."How old are you?" With a great big grin she replied...."89!" Wow! "I wanna be just like you when I grow up!" I went back to my table and told the gang about meeting my new hero. The next day I ran into her again, and warned her that she would be my #1 vacation blog when I got home. As we talked, her Grand daughter joined the conversation. She had video taped the "Dancing Queen" and emailed it to Sara's son with a note that said... "I was going to try to keep a handle on her, but as you can see, things have already gotten out of control." I asked Sara what her secret to loving life was... She said... "Clean living and finding something every day to be thankful for." What? No moaning about your aches and pains???? No pouting about number of candles on your birthday cake??? Words of wisdom if ever I heard them. Her grand daughter told me that when she turned 80 she decided she wanted to learn to play the harmonica. She bought a harmonica and taught herself to play. Now she is called on frequently to play for events where she lives. Wow!! As I took down her email address, her grand daughter said... "Oh, you can find her on Facebook too!" That didn't surprise me in the least... I can truly say I found inspirational magic on the high seas. Sara Mathis, you just keep right on rockin because I've never seen anyone do it quite as well as you! You taught me the truth that you are only as old as you feel and as carefree as you care to act. I've decided this growing older and wiser thing I've dreaded for so long, may be more fun than I thought and you my new friend are the perfect example. Thank you for the inspiration you gave me and I'm sure the inspiration you have been to all those you've come in contact with throughout your 89 years on this earth. We should all be so lucky to have someone like you to inspire us to move on with life with our heads held high and dancin shoes on.  

P.S. Miss Sara responded to my blog with the following.
 "I enjoyed my trip .my son ask where I was going next. I told him I spent my next cruise at the dentist for a crown on the tooth I broke"

Carnival Magic Take Me Away, It's Time to Make Some Memories

I saved the spreadsheet I had been working on and clicked out. Attempting to drag myself out of the fog of concentration I had been in for hours, I pulled "The Box" from beneath my desk. In bold lettering the box read... "To be shredded! Hold till frustration level has reached maximum capacity!" It was full to over flowing with scraped paper, magazines and junk mail... It would be my release. I scooped the papers into my arms, popped

out of my seat like a Jac-in-the-box and headed for the shredder. After checking to make sure the bag didn't need emptying, I began cramming (ever so gently in case the I.T. guy is reading) papers into the hungry mouth of the beast. I stood in the big room void of any chitchat and tried to relax.... Shove, relax.... Shove, relax. It was kind of like kickboxing, but not as physical. Shove.... "Just a few more days".... Relax.... "Just a few more days". I had a birthday coming up on Valentine's Day.... Shove... Relax. The ugly kind of birthday with a zero at the end. Shove... Relax. One of those birthdays that caused people to feel compelled to greet you with a wheelchair Shove...Relax, to try to suffocate you by filling your office with black balloons   Shove...Relax,and giving you cake defiled by heaping mounds of black icing that turns your lips,teeth and tongue an eerie shade of blue, which does nothing to minimize the tiny lines around your mouth. Shove... Relax... Not that I've ever been party to this type of behavior... Shove...Relax, but I have heard about it and seen others tortured in said manner... Shove...Relax. Yeah, one of those birthdays. Although I've been accused of lying about my age in years past, in reality I never have. That was fixing to change. It's not that I'm ashamed of my age.... But, I have... Well, I have a speech impediment which prevents me from forming certain  "F-Words" properly. So, being the linguistic fanatic I am...  I'm just scooching my age back a couple of years to a number my tongue is more comfortable with. That's my story and

I'm sticking to it. Being the wannabe event planner that I am, I've spent the last year, planning ways to avoid being punked on my birthday... I simply won't be here. Missing in action is the plan. Instead of being the butt of a slew of over the hill jokes, I'll be laughing it up with my husband, a couple of friends and a few dozen high school classmates on the high seas. Instead of suffocating beneath black balloons, I'll be power snorkeling with fish of every color. Instead of sinking my teeth into cake with black icing, I'll be sinking my toes into the sandy beaches of the Bahamas. Come on, that's a pretty clever way to skip out on being punked. At the end of a long day that's been especially
frustrating, I'm all for saying... "Calgon, Take Me Away" and soaking away the tension in a hot tub with plenty of bubbles. But the anxiety caused by an "F-Word" birthday ending in zero, calls for something that packs a little more punch (and possibly a little umbrella). Just a few more days till I can relax and say... "Carnival Magic take me away, it's time to make some memories. Until then...Shove...Relax...

Just the Way We Roll

My room was covered in clothes. I had put off planning and packing until I couldn't put it off any longer. Dresses, shorts, tops, covered the bed and 10 pairs of heels and a couple of pairs of flip flops covered the floor. Oh boy! Okay, it shouldn't be this difficult to pack for vacation. The thing that was throwing my mojo off was the two "Formal Nights". Although my son had gotten married this last summer, I didn't wear a "Formal" dress. It was an outdoor wedding and leaned more toward the casual. It's not that I don't have dresses, but nothing of the formal nature.  Well, there was that one dress, but sadly my armpits seemed to have grown since I last wore it. Who even knew a
person's armpits grew (eye roll)?? Then there was the dress I found dirt cheap at Dillard's last year and bought it with no occasion in mind. I wasn't crazy about the dress now, but at the time it seemed like a steal and well, I think there is a state law that requires any woman who finds a bargain on a dress they even semi-like, to buy it least they be penalized by the... "Oh I wish I would have bought that dress" for the rest of their lives.  Besides, I had worn it for Halloween when I dressed as Miss Understood. Now, I just couldn't get enthused about wearing my Halloween costume and I certainly couldn't see myself saying.... "Yeah, I wore my
Halloween costume to the Formal night on our cruise." So, back in the closet it went. Since I didn't have a sparkly beaded formal I decided the next best thing was to throw all my sparkle into my footwear which luckily I have plenty of. After much digging, sorting and throwing things in... "just in case" I think I was sort of done (as much as a woman is ever done). I collapsed on the bed and texted my friend the good news. I was actually kind of proud of myself. I had narrowed it down to one garment bag, one suitcase for odds and ends and essentials and most important of all.... one suitcase (shoecase) completely packed with high heels... I do love my shoes! My friend texted me later saying she felt she might have a clothes and shoe hoarding problem. No way Babe, you're just a normal woman. Between the two of us we'll have enough clothes not only to go on a cruise, but to possibly live on the ship a lifetime. Not a bad idea in my opinion. Our men could probably share a duffel bag between them.  The Girls taking too many clothes???? Not even possible. What can I say.... That's just the way we roll.

Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut, Day 2

Sometimes you feel like a nut because you are

 Vacation is all about not having to be any place at any certain time, about relaxing, laughing and drinking in as much adventure as you can tolerate in a short time. The first half of day 2 started early for me. I got up early before anyone else and slipped outside with my sweater. The morning was beautiful, the view was breathtaking and I was a happy little camper. As everyone began to wake up, they ventured to the back porch to enjoy the view too. No one seemed to be in a hurry to get dressed, eat breakfast or to break the spell that had been cast on us by the early morning beauty of Colorado. As the sun climbed higher in the sky, we barely changed positions. I wondered over to the horses to see if they would be my friend. They would, so I braided their manes (they looked spiffy), then my husband pointed out that the owner may not want to round up cattle on horses with braided manes, so I took the braids out and apologized profusely to the horses because they would have to go another day with horse hair until I cleared the braiding with the owner. They understood. I stood

Like breakfast at Tiffany's only better

on the front porch for a while and listened to the ranch hands bang around in the barn. When my husband joined me, I told him I had the urge to go ask them if I could do something "ranchy". I was starting to feel all cow girlie and wanted to get my hands dirty. He agreed, I should go on out and see if they'd put me to work, but then the lazy took over again and I went around back, laid a blanket on the porch and soaked in the sun as the day began to warm. We lay on the porch and sat in lawn chairs, some of us with our eyes closed, some of us in a hypnotic trance that only vacation can bring and listened to one of the boys read C. S. Lewis out loud. The morning lasted forever and we had no desire to hurry it along. Finally one by one, we roused ourselves enough to get dressed and waited

for my son and daughter. We had no particular plans, but thought perhaps we'd mosey (cause I think that's what you do in the country) into town for breakfast. When they arrived, we did mosey into town for breakfast, but found the time for breakfast had passed so we mosied down to The Rancher's Roost Cafe' and Bowling Ally for an early lunch. The perfect chance since  I needed to survey the dreaded bowling ally my son was insistent on having his rehearsal dinner in. The Rancher's Roost Cafe' and Bowling Ally was a pleasant surprise. The bowling ally at home is dark, dank, and disgustingly void of any charm. This bowling ally was bright, cheery, the food was great and the staff was so nice. When I asked to see the banquet room, I was pleasantly surprised and totally at peace with the bowling ally rehearsal dinner. Although this wouldn't be a chocolate fountain and pink champagne rehearsal dinner, it would fit right in with the easy going, laid back theme of the wedding. I was at peace, and trust me that makes everyone's vacation a better place to be. We

talked to the staff about our plans for Thursday night... Critical stuff like, could we have all of the televisions playing The Thunder game while we bowled. When you're having a wedding, you must get all the tiny details worked out in advanced, so with that done, we headed back down the street to mosey around the shops. Actually the women mosied while the men internally groaned and dreaded to see what we would bring out of the shops. We girls all got really cute cowboy hats that looked like they had been stained with years of sweat. We thought we looked very cow girlish, the guys thought we looked like tourist. What do they know? Then my husband made an executive decision (which he rarely has the opportunity to do) and decided we should all go to Bishop Castle. He had looked forward to seeing Bishop Castle forever, so we loaded up in our cars and meandered (instead of mosied) through the mountains to this looming castle in the middle of the forest. It was very

impressive, especially when you realize it was all done by a single man... For no particular reason whatsoever. I loved the spiral staircases that took you far above your comfort zone, and just like the volcano, you got quite a workout climbing the stairs. The castle went up and over with endless staircases and bridges. I totally wanted to play hide and seek, but no one else really seemed excited about the idea (why must we always act like adults?). The man building the castle sat up on one of the structures mixing and muttering while his friend sat on the front porch of a shack nearby and talked to him and anyone else who wondered up. The more I climbed and looked around, the more odd it became. It was a mixture of whimsy, beauty, craftsmanship and just lunacy. On some level, his strange obsession made me feel more normal than usual... Less creative, but more

normal. You'd probably would have to read the large handwritten (or scrawled) signs he had posted to fully understand how this odd attraction could make me feel normal, then who knows, it might make you see me as more normal too. LOL! We headed home, stopping to buy groceries for the cabin. Our boys prepared for their last adventure together while they were both single men. They had planned on hiking, or camping for the night, but the planning never made it to the where, what or when stage. They left on foot, heading for the nearby mountains as we all crossed our fingers and prayed they would make it back in time for the wedding. The day ended with The Oklahoma City Thunder rolling through our satelite dish to a victory over the Miami Heat. It was a good day!

THUNDER UP BABY!