Flying out today! (Potential burglars should be advised that my big burly brother is housesitting.) Rob is currently sitting on the suitcases in order to zip them shut. We're experienced travelers, and I pride myself in packing light. But YES, I DO NEED THAT MANY SHOES.

If we stumble upon an internet cafe and I have time, I'll drop a line. Otherwise things will be silent here for awhile. Arrivederci!

There's been some discussion amongst my circle of blogfriends (specifically here and here) about overprotective parenting. I don't have a strong opinion on the subject and don't think I'm qualified, without kids, to say much about it anyway. But it has made me consider where I would fall, if I were a mother. Probably the way I treat my cats is a pretty good indicator of the type of parent I would be, which is to say a total overprotective pushover.

There's plenty of evidence of this throughout my blog. But just to prove the point...

I take them outside on harnesses. Because I fear for their safety too much to let them roam alone, but I also feel guilty about depriving them from experiencing the great outdoors. So I put all three cats in harnesses with leashes and let them play in the backyard. Supervised, mind you. Because a bird of prey could swoop down and snatch one up at any moment. (No really. I read that somewhere.) Or a dog could run over and attack them. And let's not forget Grady... Plus, they always end up getting wound around things and each other and need untangling. It would actually be much simpler if I just took one out at a time, but I always take all three because I want to be fair and equitable. I cannot take sad pathetic feline faces staring out at me through the window.

I only give them filtered water to drink. Sure, if they were strays they'd drink out of muddy streams and mosquito-infested gutters. But luckily for them, they are my babies. And my babies deserve Brita.

I take them to the vet. A lot. Rob is convinced the main purpose of the vet is to treat neurotic pet owners, not any physical ailment of the pet itself. This is a notion at which I scoff, although he may have a point. I recently took Bridget to the vet because I was very concerned she had been losing weight. I was certain it was either hyperthyroidism or diabetes. They ran a bunch of tests, and everything came back fine. The vet's $200 diagnosis was that perhaps I should just feed her more.

There are strict safety rules in our house about not leaving various items (ribbon, twist-ties, Q-tips) lying about or within feline reach. This morning I asked Rob to put away a plastic bag that was on the floor because one of the cats might play in it and suffocate. (No really. It could happen.) I have an eye like a hawk for this sort of stuff. And I admit to taking this too far at other people's houses - I cannot resist pointing out to people the cat dangers that are lurking in their homes. I have lectured my own mother, who successfully raised two healthy children, about a piece of string I found on her living room floor. Didn't she realize if her cat swallowed that it could cut through the intestines?! I realize how completely annoying this must be, but I am compelled. I mean, it takes a village, right?

I leave very detailed cat-care instructions when we go on a trip. You would think our catsitters were caring for an invalid on life support. But there is a lot to know! Bridget has special food, and Maylee has to be fed first or she gets confused, and Simon will eat Bridget's food if he's not supervised. It is very complicated, people. And this is simple compared to the usual feeding system! My instructions don't even mention the after-school snack I give the cats every day when I come home from work.

Clearly, I'm a wee bit overprotective. I acknowledge this. And I could list a hundred ways in which I'm also a complete pushover. Like the kitchen cabinet that I almost relinquished to Simon recently because he came to love sitting in it so much while all the doors were off during the renovation. When we went to put the doors back on, I seriously considered leaving them off that cabinet and putting a cat bed in there instead of the stuff that is supposed to be stored there. Because that's his new special place! How cruel to take that away from him! But in the end, I did reclaim the cabinet. (At least for now.) So see? I'm normal.

Rob and I have made travel a priority in our life together, a decision that we repeatedly congratulate ourselves on. I cannot overemphasize the value our travels have brought to our perspectives and to our general satisfaction in life and even to our relationship. One of my favorite things about us is that in conversation (with ourselves and others) we frequently begin sentences with, "What was interesting about the Middle East..." or "When we were in London..." or "This reminds me of that place in San Francisco..." Sometimes I think it must sound like we're place-name dropping, but the truth is just that our very thoughts are informed by our travel experiences. I never thought I would be that person, the globetrotter who has tales from all over the world, and I feel very fortunate for so many opportunities to travel. Of course, we've made adjustments to our lifestyle in order to accommodate this priority - we manage our money wisely so that we have the funds for these trips, we've delayed any consideration of children until we're willing to give up, or at least slow up, travel for awhile - but these are eager "sacrifices." I wouldn't trade our travels for anything.

But it was Doreen, not Rob, who was my first travel companion. In fact, our treks to foreign countries are what fostered my passion for travel. We toured France and Spain for 10 days with a group from our high school. (We celebrated my 16th birthday in Madrid, and I will never forget the Happy Birthday, Kelly! banner Doreen had packed in her suitcase.) And then the next year we spent 2 weeks in Mexico, living with a host family in Mexico City while doing mission work with our youth group. I have so many awesome memories from those trips with her: sipping sangria while watching flamenco dancers in Madrid, portrait sketches on La Rambla in Barcelona, walking in awe through Monet's Giverny, bickering over directions in Paris (she was right), climbing the pyramid in Teotihuacán.

Back then, we made a pact that when we were grown, we'd take our men and travel to Italy together. Doreen has since been to Italy a couple times without me, during college and for work, but we still talked about "someday" when we'd go together. Last fall, when Rob and I were trying to decide between Italy and a Mediterranean cruise for our next trip, Doreen and K said they'd love to go on the cruise, and that made the decision for us.

We leave in a few days. It's going to be a trip that leans more toward past cultures and architecture than sandy beaches, which is much more our preference. There are stops in Greece, Turkey, and Croatia. And the cruise departs from Venice, so we'll be spending a few days together in Italy after all. It's a trip I obviously would be super-excited about anyway, but I am downright giddy that we all get to spend an entire week together and that I will be experiencing each new place with my original travel buddy.

Toledo, Spain 1996

At Discovery Cove where we swam with dolphins, alcoholic drinks are included in the entrance fee. As many as you want. Free. Looking back on it, I sorta wish I had better taken advantage of this, although at the time we were too busy doing awesome things to stop for alcohol. Did you hear what I just said? I said we were TOO BUSY TO DRINK. And that right there should convey to you just how fabulous of a time we were having.

Near the end of the day, HFD and I decided to walk over to the photo center and pick up the photos that had been taken of our dolphin swim. On the way, we stopped by the bar for a drink. This was only the second drink of the day, hours after the first. Needless to say, I was never even remotely tipsy.

After swinging by the bar, we headed to the photo center, drinks in hand. I was very excited about the photos. We'd already seen them earlier on a computer screen, but I was eager to have them in hand and admire them up close.

The employee gave them to us one at a time, showing us each photo as he handed it to us. I think this was to confirm that we'd gotten the ones we wanted, but it also had the effect of making the whole thing a bit more dramatic. For me, anyway.

"YAY!" I exclaimed as he lifted the first photo for us to see. "It's ME! With the dolphin!" And then as he lifted the next one, "Me again! YAY!!" And then the next one: "Aww look, it's [HFD] and me!" And then, "There's [HFD] with the dolphin! YAY!" I noticed the photo guy try to hide a smile, and thought to myself how completely thrilled he must be to spread the dolphin joy, one photo at a time.

Then, as we walked away, photos tucked under my arm and a spring in my step, I glanced down at the drink sloshing in the cup I was clutching and realized how I must have appeared to him. "He totally thought I was drunk, didn't he?"

"Most likely."

Of course, it's probably less lame for him to think I was drunk than to know the truth, that my extreme ebullience was solely due to dolphin-related delirium.

Yesterday we returned from a long weekend in Florida with JLD & HFD, a trip during which I GOT TO SWIM WITH DOLPHINS! I have been bursting to talk about this, but given my history with the universe, I knew better than to blog about it in advance this time. In fact, I have been afraid to talk about it at all in more than a whisper, so worried the universe would make note of my excitement and ruin everything. One night last week, JLD was later getting home than he thought he'd be, and HFD told me that she woke up around midnight, realized he wasn't home yet, and her first sleepy thought was that he'd been in an accident because of the dolphins, because that was the way the universe had decided to keep me from them this time. Totally within the realm of possibility, people. But fortunately there was no accident. Nor was there a hurricane or canceled flight or sudden dolphin plague or any of the other 1000 potential disasters I had imagined might possibly prevent me from swimming with the dolphins.

Rob and JLD spent Friday at an aviation convention while HFD and I went to Discovery Cove where we got to play with sting rays and snorkel with tropical fish and, you know, SWIM WITH DOLPHINS! HFD's dream job is to be a dolphin trainer and I have always wanted to be a mermaid so, as you can imagine, for the two of us this was one of the Best Days EVER.

HFD and me, so freaking excited!

Swimming! With CJ the dolphin!

Smooching with dolphins

It seems I can check this off my life list now, although I'm not sure there's any point because I'd just turn around and add the very same item back to the list. These creatures are so exquisite, and the experience so enchanting, that I only hope I have the opportunity to do this many more times in my life.