Well, here we are in paradise.  Paradise is a relative term, really.  I think I live there.  I love the ranch.  I love my life.  Work….play….for me it is the same, honestly.  That is how I got here.  You see, when you love what you do, you don’t think about vacation.  Every day is a vacation.  But….over time, it adds up, it is insidious.  I could go into detail, but I won’t.  Let’s just say that one day you wake up and you are tired.  Not just physically tired, mentally tired, emotionally tired.  The things you love begin wearing you out, become a burden.  THAT, is when you know it is time to make a change.

Karra and I were sitting on the couch; I looked at her and said, “We gotta get away”.  We started thinking and realized that we had not been alone (save a weekend in Dallas) together since we came back from Mexico, in 1995.   I really don’t know when we were together alone before that, I think in Hawaii in 1980 something when Chris was about 2.

One day, out of the clear blue, I asked Karra if she wanted to go on a cruise…She quickly said no.  I was stunned, hurt really.  A few days later I confronted her about her comment and with further discussion, discovered she related cruise ships with the beach and suntans.  I reminded her about all the old people on cruise ships.  She relented….I went to work.

Being the bargain hunter I am, I googled “discount cruises” and found Vacations to Go.  They specialize in last minute and discount cruises.  After an exhaustive study, I found a good cruise that left Galveston, and traveled in the Gulf of Mexico all the way to Central America.  Seven days at sea.  We had to get to Galveston, which from Childress means two days down, one really long one back.  Ten days…..I can’t be gone that long!  Oh well, it was a good idea L.

Several weeks later, I tell Karra, “we gotta get away” and went back to the website.  I’m more burned out, tired of waiting on rain, wanting to do something.  Then I remember I have all sorts of free miles and can fly pretty much anywhere for free…….I wonder if there is a Mediterranean cruise?  I find a great one and call my friend Narguess at Vacations to Go.  She confirms that Celebrity is the cruise line to use and I start making air reservations.  Now, I realize that this cruise is 12 days and it is a lot of travel, but I’m getting used to the idea now.  Wait!  No way to get there on free miles.  Bummer…back to the drawing board.

90 days into this “we gotta get away” mode.  Narguess and I are getting to be pretty good friends by this time.  I think she senses this guy needs a vacation, and she is working hard.  Then……”Todd, what about a repositioning cruise?”  I’m an Aggie that lives in Childress, and not to sure what that is.  She explains.  “The cruise line has to move the ships around as the seasons change.  There is one that leaves from Florida and goes to the Mediterranean.  Lots of people don’t like them because there are so many days at sea, and there is not as much to do.  And they tend to be cheaper as well”.  That not much to do part really perked me up!  We talked about it and pulled the trigger.

So my friends.  I am here sitting at my computer on the veranda of our room.  It is 7 in the morning, we just had breakfast on the deck.  Coffee, fresh fruit, blue water……Thunder, we are not in Childress any more!  I thought it would be interesting to write my thoughts and “blog” them to you…..the thoughts of

~A workaholic in therapy in the Atlantic Ocean~