Here she is, and the shirt fits, if you know what I mean! Doesn't she look amazing? We found that hilarious shirt in a vintage store in Tampa the night before we left on the cruise. It's going to become the traveling shirt, as we each hit the fabulous age over the next couple of years! 
The three of us were LAK growing up... Linda, Anne, Kim... we were inseparable, forging our way through high school and college ... the time we spent together molded me in ways that I am still discovering. God gave me a gift of lifelong friendship when he gave me these girls! We haven't seen nearly as much of each other since starting our families a decade ago, so there was years of catching up to do. 
We added a new friend in college, named Chrissy (in purple.) She is darling and fun and a blast to go cruisin' with! I have not seen or even talked to her in over TEN(!) years, but I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her and learning about her life as a mom of three and ER nurse! We definitely rekindled an old friendship! Then there is Rhonda (in pink), the spunky little sister (also mom of three) of the birthday girl... she kept us going... laughing... and smiling. Sweet, funny and thoughtful, so thoughtful that she brought us all matching, pink, embroidered robes! 
Grand Cayman was our first stop after a couple days at sea. Amazingly, hurricane Paloma had passed over the area just two calendar days earlier. But the day was sunny and pleasant! We went snorkeling and got to gaze through our masks at the swimming jewels of the sea, flitting around the ocean floor.
Then... we had the unusual opportunity to hang out with the Stingrays. So the story goes that years ago, on this particular sandbar, a fisherman began feeding the stingrays his leftover fish pieces. They became rather tame stingrays, unafraid of human contact. Yes, I know that Steve Irvin was killed by a stingray, and believe me, that did race through my mind at the time,
especially given the huge size of these things. But we decided they were quite like puppies as they rubbed up against our legs and let us hold them. I know it sounds crazy, but the stingrays were lovable creatures. Never thought I'd use that word in the same sentence as stingray.
Next stop was Cozumel, Mexico, where we basically rented a little slice of our own beach for the day. We just did nothing but listen to the beat of the waves on the sand, beachcomb for shells, read our novels, talk and laugh ourselves silly and tell Carlos what next fabulous food or drink we would like to have delivered, beachside!
Wow! What a trip! We talked a wild streak, laughed till our ribs felt sore, danced like no one was watching, and sang as loud as we possibly could. We shed some tears while talking, stirred up old memories from the dead, and made plans for the future! We sang and danced some more, freaking out every time we heard one of our favorite songs, such as "Push It" or "Jessie' s Girl." 
We went to a comedy show and dressed up like the 80's. Big hair and bright colors. Did I mention we ate and ate? We had to take advantage of the free buffets! Right, Chrissy? We celebrated a very special person in our friend Linda. And we took zillions of pictures of it all. Truly, through it all, we felt the very strong hand of God on all we did. It is no coincidence that everything went so smoothly. Yes, we believe that He cares even about 40th birthday parties, and especially His birthday girl... Linda Ruth! We give Him praise for the ways He watched over us, big and little. Everything good and perfect is from above.
In the end, leaving was mostly sweet. The vacation was more than I could have expected and the time with friends was irreplaceable. However, I missed my family so much that I could barely sleep our last night on the boat. I was so thrilled to finally be back at home with my loved ones, but......I am very glad I went on that trip.
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