Speechless

Ok, yeah, I know that rarely happens to me but it did on Saturday night. I was waiting until today to say anything about the event though cause, well, my brain is still trying to wrap around what's happened.

Michael and I went out to dinner on Saturday night with Jonathan and our friend Jan (who is friends with Jon too) and Yancey (my former manager at the bookstore). Jon and I've known Jan for quote a while now through the bookstore. She's always fun to talk to. Awesome lady. Well, she decided that she wanted to spend some of her rebate money on dinner for the five of us. So, we went to Longhorn. It was very yummy and an awesome gathering. At some point, Yancey asked Michael and I if we'd decided what to do for the honeymoon. So, I went into my well worn spiel about how we had wanted to do a cruise but can't afford to pay for that before the honeymoon. You know that I mentioned the Marriott as one of our registries because we love the chain, etc. So, we're hoping that people will do that for us cause then we can go somewhere (like California or Hawaii) and have some help with the hotel bill. Or for our anniversary next year since the card doesn't expire or depreciate.

Anyway, after dinner we were standing around talking. Yancey had left so it was just the four of us. Next thing I know, Jan is offering to buy us a cruise for our honeymoon! (crickets chirp) I think the three of us were wearing identical expressions of shock. Jon was doing his blink thing. Michael looked puzzled and I think I was agape. When I rediscovered my vocal chords I was like, "Thanks but that's just too much!" Well, she didn't think so. We're her friends, she has the means right now, so there ya go. She hadn't been able to think about what to get us so this solved that problem nicely for her. We protested but with Jan, once she has her mind set on something, there's no changing it. I was just so stunned that I didn't know what to do. Jan said to consider it not just a gift but as something that I could do for someone someday. A kind of pay it forward deal.

Michael and I ended up talking about it. He pointed out how much money I've loaned people in the past, etc. I started to say how I would do the same thing and that Jan is just like me. And that stopped me in mid-sentence. Hard to argue with someone who is simply and older version of you that way. Hard to say no when you know how happy it makes you feel to do something big for someone. To give them something unique. And last night I remembered two of the times I did that for various people ten years ago involving trips (and one a honeymoon). Do I regret that? No. Would I do it again if I had the money? Yes. So, I told Jan yes. Ok, so I had to justify it for myself but so what?

Well, she didn't want to wait long to go and talk to a travel agent so we set up to meet with one at AAA. When Michael and I had originally looked at cruises, I had the Frommer's guide as a reference. We'd decided a while ago that the Caribbean was nice and relatively inexpensive. Since we wanted to go in the off season, that was going to help even more. We'd heard that balcony rooms are awesome and can be had decently. So, that was what we had in mind. Michael only really cares about the time at sea itself but since we do have to stop in some ports, I suggested we see some of the Mayan ruins. That helped narrow it down more. The final narrow was which cruise lines. I already had those sticky noted in another book (the Dummies version) so I knew which we would like.

Jan thought ahead and spoke with the AAA agent without me yesterday so that the whole price thing could be avoided in front of me since I was determined to keep the cost down. She knew I would haggle. Far easier for me to capitulate if I don't have $ signs in front of me. Plus, it's gauche to be discussing gift price or for her to tell me her budget. I don't need to know how much money she has. That's not why I'm her friend. So, that made things easier.

The travel agent has a preference for Princess for us given what we like. I told her that Jen had suggested Royal Caribbean. So, she summed up the differences and reminded me of some things that I had read before that I liked about Princess. Really, it was fairly simple. Jan had wanted to help us with less driving time but it's all good. In the end, we ended up with a 7 day cruise that stops in Princess Cays, Bahamas (the cruise lines own port), Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Grand Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico. That was pretty much what Michael and I had been looking at before so that was cool. But here's the last kicker. . .Jan insisted on booking us one of the mini-suites! Egads! I tried to talk her out of that but she wouldn't budge. She thought the regular balcony rooms looked too small and that we should have a larger balcony. Eeep! I mean, I don't ultimately know what end the suite falls in since there are higher and lower ends but still. . .she wouldn't budge. (sigh) So we now have a beautiful honeymoon planned. I won't type here when and stuff since this is a public forum even though we will have a house sitter. But yeah, I am still shocked.

We do plan to take some extra time in Florida since we're down there. Might as well recuperate and Michael has saved up all of his vacation time. So, hopefully peeps will still do the Marriott thing cause even if we don't use it then, we can use it next year for sure. Little get aways cause this will probably be the last biggie for a long while.

Jan is so gonna get it. lol I'll do something nice for her, you wait. It may not be as elaborate, but I will not forget this generosity. And both of us appreciate it.

Heck, I appreciate it a lot now for the look it put on Michael's face when I told him it was booked. He didn't care about the details, just that he was going to get to sail and be on the ocean. There may be a price to the trip, but that look was priceless.