When we disembarked the cruise ship, back in Venice, Rob & I and Doreen & Apollo* parted ways. They were flying out that day, and we were spending one more day in Venice. They were planning to while away an hour or so before heading to the airport, and we wanted to go further into the city, so we said goodbye and went on our way.

Rob and I dropped our stuff at the hotel and started heading in the direction of a cathedral we wanted to see. We walked a bit, and then turned a corner - and there were Doreen and Apollo. Sitting at a table in the corner of a little plaza, looking very Italian - he smoking a cigarette and she sipping a latte. We were delighted by this happenstance reunion. As Doreen said, you'd think after spending over a week together, two couples would be tired of being together, but we were all happy to see each other again less than an hour after parting.

Or maybe they were just being nice. It takes traveling with other people, and viewing yourself through their eyes, to realize just how potentially annoying you might be. I am - and I'm sure this will come as a surprise - a bit anal. You know, slightly. For this reason, when Rob and I are traveling I am the designated Important Paper Keeper. I am responsible for keeping up with passports, tickets, etc. because not having control of those things literally would drive me insane. And I also must confirm that our travel companions have their shit in gear. ("You have your tickets, right? What about your room key? Do you want to bring a water bottle? What about sunscreen? We should probably hurry or we're going to miss the shuttle.") It sounds completely high-strung, but it calms me to confirm these things. You know, constantly. Rob's a responsible person, but the reason I'm the Important Paper Keeper is that he doesn't check to make sure he still has these things every 5 minutes like I do, and I cannot relax knowing that our passports might have fallen out of the secret passport pocket (practically impossible, but still) and he wouldn't notice for, like, hours. He argues that the very act of checking to make sure everything is still there makes it more likely that something will fall out, to which I respond, "Except not, because I keep checking it!" Which might not sound like a logical response, but I am not here to be logical. I am here to keep track of shit and I have a system and IT WORKS.

Are you starting to see what it would be like to travel with us? Because we bicker like that, Rob smart-assedly pointing out the flaws in my plans and me bossing him around like it's my job. Except it's not really bickering so much as it's dysfunctional flirting. There is nothing more romantic than a well-timed "Yeah, fuck you." But to other people I suspect we appear just like one of those cranky couples, married for 60+ years, who grumble at each other simultaneously and interrupt each other's stories with, "No, no, you're telling it all wrong." Of course, maybe that's all just foreplay, too.

Fortunately Doreen and Apollo are laidback and good-natured and hardly even bat an eye when I am brutally smacking Rob's arm while he's driving because there's a spider on it. Somehow they manage to just exchange a look and laugh (with only a slight tinge of fear) as I scream at Rob about how SHIT THERE'S A SPIDER ON YOUR SLEEVE and DO NOT FLICK IT ON ME and JUST LET ME KILL IT all while Rob is yelling back that he's DRIVING HERE, hello!

And that's us on our best behavior. Because while Doreen has known us for years and manages to love us despite ourselves, I was afraid on this trip we would be more than Apollo wanted to sign up for, you know? Deranged friends can be a dealbreaker. So we tried our best to behave ourselves.

Good thing, too, because for most of the trip Apollo was carrying around a diamond ring. Surely trying to decide if he could tolerate knowing Rob & I for the rest of his life. Or, you know, maybe waiting for the right time to propose. But probably the first one.

He did propose, and she said yes, and we are thrilled for them! She has been family to us for nearly all our lives, and he has felt like family to us since the first time we met him. I am looking so forward to their wedding day, and not just because I pledged to say "titbits" in my toast.

*I have been trying to find the right blog nickname for Doreen's man and have taken suggestions and considered several options including Mr. F, Special K, and Damn Shitbird. But I think this one fits the best, for various reasons: our trip to the temple, his love for literature, the fact that he's a twin and, perhaps most of all, that he has great Greek god hair.