Cruising with De Mouse

De Sister, De Sweet Niece, De Grampa Stu and I are counting down the days until we go cruisin'.
Yup, we've spent money that we don't have and have gotten tickets to take a three- day Disney Cruise to the Bahamas June 24 through the 28th.
De Sweet Niece is graduating high school on June 12 and the trip is her graduation present. She deserves it -- she's got good grades and has a life plan that includes going to nursing school.
De Sweet Niece first mentioned the possibilty of a cruise in December, the day after Christmas, when we were at the mall doing a little day after shopping with De Sister, her mother.
I loved the idea and said how about if we (de sweet niece and I) go together.
That worked with her.
Not wanting to take her out of the country without telling her parents -- namely De Sister and De Bro-in-Law, I told them about the plan that night over a dinner of chicken wings and beer.
Seemed to be the time to ask them. Adult beverages were involved, after all.
De Sister immediately wanted to go and cast a pleading look at De Mom (our mother). De Grampa Stu (de bro-in-law's dad), who was also there, said he wanted to go.
A look passed between de gramparents, and in the blink of an eye the number of trip participants went from 2 to 4.
It remains to be seen how four people with strong opinions about what they want to do will get along on a boat for a few days.
Pray for us.

This that and the other

As Christmas draws near and the year comes to a close, it's always fun to take a look back and a glance forward.
Here are some highlights from my 2008:

1) Attending the Papal Mass at National's Stadium in Washington, D.C. Only one way to describe it: Holy Awesome!

2) Hanging out with the President: I'm a reporter at a suburban newspaper just outside D.C., about 20 miles or so from the nation's capital, so its always a cool thing to get to report on the President. Got to do that a couple of times this year -- on Sept. 11 for the memorial service at the Pentagon and at the final T-Ball on the South Lawn fame of President Bush's administration.

3) Still on the reporting front: Seeing families reunited after their loved ones returned from serving oversees was joyful. Tearful were the departure ceremonies that I reported on.

4) Hanging out with family and friends at the beach, dinners out, conversation, reading good books -- the little things that we forget that make life meaningful.