On Sunday, March 25th, my hubby and I will be on our very first; without the children, without any parents, without friends, without it being church related, without it being for work, vacation since our honeymoon nearly 16 years ago!

Our Honeymoon ~ Kauai 1996 {the yellow fanny-packs are our life jackets} 🙂

WOW!

When I sat down to figure that out, I was blown away! It may look {to others} like we spend a lot of time together, on vacations etc, but we usually have a gaggle of people traveling with us. Which is how we roll, we like sharing our time with our family and friends.

Dollywood {Pigeon Forge, TN} ~ 2010

In the last little while, it’s become more and more noticeable that there is real need to work on “us”, you know… the husband and wife part of the equation! We’ve had so much pull at us, and pull at us, and pull at us, over the last two years in particular, that unless we make sure we’re a strong couple, everything else could be in jeopardy.

When Dave first mentioned going away together, I must admit… I started to panic. All the things that you have to do – to go away – started swirling in my head; the kids, the house, work, church, the money. It was dizzying and almost too much for me when the chest pains started. It has taken me almost a month to figure out that it’ll be OK. The kids are being watched by one of my sister-in-laws in our home, so that takes care of two birds with one stone. A friend of ours is taking over for Dave at the church, preaching for us. And work for me, just worked itself out.

Ahhhhh, I can breathe again!

Dave booked a one-week cruise in the Caribbean. Yes, we’ve been on a cruise before, 11-days around the Hawaiian Islands… it was amazing & it was with my parents.

Norwegian Cruise Line, Hawaii ~ 2006

The Cruise Line we’re sailing with this time… is Holland America… a company I worked for in the early 90’s.

I spent from May to October, six days a week for 4 years working at the Vancouver Pier {airport and hotels too} for their Alaska run. It was the best job I had during my adolescent years. I never did get to actually cruise with them, {I sent my parents with them for their 1st cruise, to celebrate my mom’s 50th birthday} but I loved every minute, port-side. Never was my grin bigger! My first taste of social butterflyitis…

I didn’t realize how excited I was until I found an old piece of work memorabilia.

1993!

We’ll be departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on the ms Nieuw Amsterdam next Sunday, making stops in the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Honduras and Mexico. I am so excited to be able to finally experience what all those passengers I waved Bon Voyage to experienced, almost 20 years later!

After all we’ve given and all those we have helped and all that we’ve gone through… I think it’s our turn and I cannot wait!!