Crewser Cruises

Saturday morning, I was up with the daylight, my brain being on Eastern Daylight Time. But the restaurant was on Pacific Time, so I sat by the window, admiring the view, before showering and dressing for the day. We went to Bacco for breakfast at 9:00, texting Scott our plans. They were just waking up after their late arrival from DFW, and would grab something to eat before our first activity of the day. Scott and I don't get as many visits with each other as we'd like. He plays Beer League hockey on several different teams every weekend (at least, that's what the frequency seems to be from 1,200 miles away). So getting out to visit with him in Texas requires a lot of scheduling magic. In late November of 2023, he met a woman who swept him off his feet. He was fifty years old at the time, and I have never seen him that happy in his entire life. And he just seems to get happier and happier with every passing month of the relationship. Which, of course, makes Mom happy. As ...

The alarm rang at 3:30 and we were on the 4:30 shuttle. The ticketing area at CLE was insane at 5:00 a.m. Where are all these people going?!!! After standing in line for about two minutes for PreCheck, a security person got the attention of the person ahead of us and told us all to follow her. She knew another PreCheck TSA line that was not at all busy, and we were placing our bags on the belt in a couple of minutes. But then we saw a TSA official grabbing one of our carry-ons. Yes, the dreaded search. Most cruise lines have noticed an uptick in Norovirus. I've been following the accounts in the various Holland America and Alaska Cruise groups on Facebook. Out of an abundance of caution, I stocked up on Clorox wipes and the travel size of Lysol spray. Unfortunately, the only Clorox wipes I could find was the 75-count container. Y'know, the one that weighs about a pound-and-a-half? Yep, that's what the three guys peering into the scanner screen were trying to figure out whe...

Here's the wine rack in the 2019-renovated kitchen of our 1927 home, decorated with an early birthday card my lifelong BFF sent. Her granddaughter picked it out, having never met me, and it has musical notes on it!!! I'm seventeen days from turning 75 years of age. I've spent the past nineteen months planning this trip, a terrific adventure for my sons, myself, and our people, as they say on "Grey's Anatomy." The boys' father and I divorced when they were around ages 8 and 6. Now they are ages 52 and 50. We three have not take a "family" vacation since they were teenagers. If I spend too long thinking about this upcoming trip, my eyes fill with tears. These two men have become wonderful adults: ethical, loving, hard-working. I am very lucky to be their mom. I'm going to enjoy this trip so very much. For this trip, rather than be anxious about leaving my old house empty, I've asked a recent YSU graduate, a theatre major whom I accompanie...