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.

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

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.

My brother and I are talking on the phone, and I am laughing. He has called to ask me a Jeopardy! question, to see if I know the answer. (I don't.) "That's all I needed," he says, but neither of us say goodbye and half an hour later we are still chatting, moving easily from topic to topic. We're different in a lot of ways, in our interests and beliefs and approach. And yet we are made of the same stuff; we share the same genes and the same history. And so we are similar in fundamental ways. I'm reminded of this in the way the rhythm of his speech is like mine, and in the way our conversation jumps ahead, skipping unnecessary sentences because we're already on the same page, thinking the same thing. If we both live to be old, we will have known each other longer than anyone else in our lives.

Little did I realize, when I used to squeeze my little brother's wrist until he cried, that he would someday become one of my closest friends.

Rob and I welcomed 2008 by attending a real, actual New Year's Eve party. We have never done this before. Usually we are totally boring. We turn on Dick Clark around 11:45 and question the sanity of the people at Times Square who are crowded together in the cold, confetti swirling around them like snow. In 2006 we were a bit more festive, celebrating with a very nice dinner and a fireworks show - but we all know how that turned out.

But this year Doreen and her man invited us to their house for a real, actual New Year's Eve party. Complete with champagne, Happy New Year hats, and noisemakers. Ooh, and fireworks! It was just like the cool New Year's Eve parties you see on tv. Their house is so elegant, and the entire evening was just fabulous. WAY more rockin' than that other rockin' eve, I'm just saying.

I have an Italian phrase-a-day calendar, and today's was: Caspita, che bella festa! (Wow, what a great party!)

Many thanks to Doreen for saving us from our otherwise lamewad pathetic selves.

BFFs

and four hours of conversation with HFD and JLD

This is me (in green) and Doreen with our men on the Crazy Mouse, which is the scariest fucking roller coaster of all time, ever. (Also known as Wild Mouse and a million other names.) It's, um, a kiddie ride. But scary as shit, I swear! Hands down my absolute favorite coaster. Whenever we're at a park that has one, I must ride it. And then I scream the entire time. Or at least try to scream, although no sound comes out because I'm laughing so hard.