Planning for the long-awaited vacation
By Brent E. McCoy thereal@roadrunner.com

Next year my wife and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. This is remarkable not only because of the longevity of the marriage in these times but because we both lived to see it. It's not really so much remarkable that we lived to see it, since we're really not that old, as it is remarkable that we didn't kill each other somewhere along the way. But, we made it and we, of course, want it to be special, and we have just about decided on how we're going to celebrate.

We have decided on a trip to Hawaii and a cruise around the islands. This might not be original, but what might be original, although I doubt it, is how we came to this joint decision.

My wife asked what I would like to do for our anniversary, and I said that I thought that it would be nice to spend a week in Hawaii by ourselves. I sort of like the idea of just sitting on the beach, going for a hike now and then and driving around Oahu for a week without wondering what the impending crisis was going to be. I asked my wife what she would like to do. Sharon (my wife) said that she would like to take a cruise around the islands. I said that I didn't think that sitting on a boat would be that much fun. It was decided that we would take a cruise for our second honeymoon.

Well, at least we would be alone.

I was a little saddened when I learned that the plans called for us to stay in two cabins. That didn't sound very romantic. I cheered up a little when I learned that the second cabin was for our kids.

Well, at least we'll be together as a whole family on our anniversary/second honeymoon. I realized how whole the family was going to be when I learned that my wife's sister and her husband would be accompanying us. I like them and they are good company, so it didn't seem like a bad idea. But I made it clear that we weren't going to hang around with them during the whole trip.

Apparently, my objection had been foreseen, and I will have no need to worry since my sisterin-law and her husband will want to spend some time with her son and his girlfriend who will be accompanying us on the trip.

It seems like everyone will have plenty of time to do what they want, but we all know how sisters can be, and I became concerned that they might start to get on each other's nerves. I have been assured that this will not be a problem since as soon as the two sisters start to tire of each other they can go visit the third sister, who will also be joining us, along with her husband and their daughter.

We started as two and now we were 11. I said that it was a shame that we were so close to finding out if it really was cheaper by the dozen. My wife heard me and started to laugh. I asked what she found so amus

ing. She said that I wouldn't have to wonder about it very long. It turns out that my son's girlfriend will

make it an

even dozen.

The trip won't quite be the secluded second honeymoon that I had in mind, but it will still be fun. It'll be just like a family Thanksgiving gettogether. Yep, it'll be just like a big, weeklong Thanksgiving with all of the family on a big ship out in the ocean.