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“I signed up, but I’m not sure if I made the cut,” I said.

“Well, let’s take a look. Your name?”

“Mr. ‘X’,” I said.

“Cabin?”

“220”

The woman rifled through several pages, and then re-examined the top page of her list. “Oh, yes—here you are. Go right on in,” she said loudly. “He’s about to start.” I left about 200 hopefuls waiting in line and made for the entrance.

The theater was packed, but I spotted a small gap in the mass of people— near the center of the room on the aisle. When I got there I was…

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I adjusted the showerhead to produce a concentrated spray and positioned myself so that the blast of steaming water hit me right between the eyes. The hot water provided a welcome distraction, but no relief from the pain.

I sat there for perhaps half an hour, with increasingly morbid thoughts racing through my head. When I emerged from the shower, the bathroom was thick with mist and condensation dripped down the walls. I dried off, wrapped myself in a robe and headed for the verandah.

It was a lot like the bathroom out there—foggy and wet, but 30 degrees cooler….

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The sound of the rain on the rooftop was soon drowned out by the sounds of footsteps on gravel. People materialized from the fog in all directions, seeking shelter from the sudden deluge. Kris was wearing a white jacket which caused her to initially appear as a body-less apparition, her face hovering a few feet above disconnected legs.

“Didn’t you go to the top?” Kris asked.

“Yeah—nice view,” I said.

“How come I didn’t see you?”

“Did you see anything or anybody?”

“Not really.”

“I’m sure we walked right past each other,” I said. “Not quite like the last time…

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I wasn’t about to broach the subject of cruising with my own mother until the holiday season was well past – there are some things a son just knows not to do. But I couldn’t just sit around and think about the upcoming cruise, and being a devout CruiseCritic, I followed my natural tendency to go out on the Internet, find fellow cruisers and start talking up the trip.

I imagined that the large majority of those who jumped at the chance to go on this trip were probably first-time cruisers, and indeed, this proved to be the case.…

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I think Kris was momentarily taken aback. “Well, my mother probably would – but your mother? I doubt it. I don’t think my mother would want to be all alone in a room, though.”

“Our cabin can sleep four,” I said, mainly for effect. It worked.

“No way!” said Kris.

“It’s a lot less expensive that way.”

“No! Absolutely not,” Kris said.

“I could upgrade to a suite for the three of us and still save money,” I said. I knew she wouldn’t go for it, but what better way to demonstrate…

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Life returned to normal very quickly after our return from the Millennium cruise – quickly, as in the next day. Kris and I went back to work, while Wells and Dan returned to high school to serve out the remainder of their sentences. Next thing we knew, it was June.

The boys’ graduation may have spelled the official end to their childhood, but I think it really ended on the cruise. It was a coming-of-age experience for them. Wells and Dan had a great time on the trip, but details are hard to drag out of teen-aged boys. Perhaps we’re…

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