Love Boat: Day One

Todd atop the old fortress in San Juan (wearing the same shirt from the day before and the same shirt he would wear the following day.)

Becky, standing beside a big 'ol pile of balls

My first book of the trip (The Last Juror, by John Grisham)

In preparation for our 7 day Caribbean cruise, I scoured my home library for books that I had not read, but which would fit snugly inside a carry-on suitcase. I settled on three books, two written by John Grisham, and a third: The Collected Stories of O Henry. I read over half of my first John Grisham book, The Last Juror, while en route to San Juan, though I was so tired from our 3 a.m. alarm time that I could hardly keep my eyes open.

Still, this was a love cruise, and I didn't want to miss out on any of the festivities with Becky, so I stayed alert and interested. When we arrived in San Juan, we checked into our hotel and then headed out for an excursion into the old city. Our first stop was the ancient citadel of Cristobal Colon, named after, of course, Christopher Columbus.

At one point I even plucked a red flower from a beautiful tree, placed it in Becky's hair, and gave her a long and passionate kiss when we reached the top of the fortress overlooking the Atlantic. Can you get any more romantic than that?

We then took out our cell phone and called home. We wanted to assure the kids that we were safe, but they seemed more interesting in watching a Sponge Bob rerun, so I told my son that I had just kissed his mother and told her she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever laid my eyes on. He quickly sent back a text message: "Gross."

Okay . . . so two old people in old San Juan isn't that exciting to teenagers, but it sure was to me. We were getting ready for a love cruise, and I hadn't even opened up my ten page love letter yet. I was saving that little beauty for the cruise, for those low moments when Becky might decide the she had, indeed, married an imbecile and a loser. But I just wanted to impress her with my literary skills, which might lead to showing her a few other skills and a couple of tricks that I think I possess. But that's another chapter . . . isn't it?