The Silver Lining

(Written on Sept. 21, 2010, onboard Royal Caribbean's "Grandeur of the Seas" as we headed toward Grand Cayman.) I snagged a couple of poolside chairs and managed to get in a little snooze after our early morning walk. But by 10:30, the sun was blazing in the sky and the day began heating up. Rather than risk a sunburn on our first day out, we gave up the lounges to a young couple, and moved to a table in the shaded area on the port side of the ship. I began watching the sea as we churned through the water. Off on the distant horizon I could see the uneven outline of an island: Cuba, I realized. Purplish hazy hills jutted out of the deep sapphire blue sea; we were too far away to see any details. I stood at the ship's rail, watching as we moved past this mysterious country. To my right, I noticed an older gentleman. He was dressed in a dark t-shirt, plaid shorts, white socks and tennis shoes. I guessed him to be in his late 70's or early 80's. He was g...

Hi Folks, Back home, sitting in my kitchen again. Jet lag is not a lot of fun, and we were up 30 hours straight trying to get back here. That's a long story; on a day when I can find it a bit funnier than now, I'll tell you my "JFK Int'l Airport" story. So hey, you'll just have to keep checking back in here even though I"m home. You never know what I might be thinking about that comes through my writing! I love my home and my family. They're my rock; my mom & dad have been my encouragers and supporters from Day One (which for me happens to have been August 29, 1956). I love calling them when I'm back in the US and saying, "Hey I'm home!!!" because they are almost giddy with excitement that I'm back! My kids all tell me things that happened to them that they havent been able to tell me b/c of bad phone connections while I was gone, so I get a "Readers' Digest Condensed Version" of their lives over the pa...