We could travel to Europe. We could stroll past the luxurious galleries and plazas surrounding the Louvre and the Tuileries garden for a classic romantic walk or take our picture together looking up at the Eiffel Tower. We could catch a table at Carretera Miramar, a picturesque, little café overlooking the city of Barcelonia, and share a bottle of Sangria.
We wouldn’t even have to travel all the way to Europe. We could reserve a little Caribbean bungalow. We could find a little cabin in the Finger Lakes or have our every need taken care of at romantic resort in the Florida Keys or even sip every wine known to man in the Napa Valley.
My wife and I could go anywhere. We have a budget obviously that we would need stick to, but for all intense of purposes, the skies the limit. We’re on the verge of being empty nesters, we both celebrated big milestone birthdays this year and our 25th wedding anniversary, we could travel the world.
So, what do my wife and I do? We share a bottle of wine and one of us will look deeply into the other’s eyes and say, “we should go away together for a trip, where do you want to go?”
The other will look back lovingly and say in return, “Oh, that’s a great idea, but I don’t know, where do you want to go” like we’re two nervous teenagers picking out a restaurant to go to on a busy Friday night.
“Where do you want to eat? Do you have anything special in mind?”
“No, I don’t know, where do you want to eat.”
Good grief just make a decision.
My wife and I have been going on like this for weeks, but I think we’re finally close to making a decision. We’re talking about going on a short cruise to Bermuda. We’re not especially the “crusing type,” but we love the idea of warm weather and the ease of getting away.
My wife has surprisingly gotten into the idea. She’s been talking about the clothes she’ll pack, the new swim suit that she wants to buy, and the extra excursions and things that we could do on the cruise.
You have to forgive us. We haven’t gone on a lengthy vacation without our kids since . . . err, well, before we had kids. This is a new feeling for us, a new adventure. We’re used to traveling with everyone in tow.
Of course, we continue to run into challenges, including the actual travel date. We’re pretty busy with family stuff through the rest of the year, so that’s out of the question.
On top of that, my wife doesn’t want to travel during the school year. She suggests we hold off traveling until next summer when school’s out. She’s a teacher and has limited vacation days. I start to tell her to say the hell with that, that I could care-less about the school year, but she gives me a look that I know after 25 years together means that I better keep my mouth shut. I, on the other hand, just want to be sure to celebrate our 25th while we’re still relatively young.
Oh well, at least we’re headed in the right direction.
Writing from the Heart with Brian 
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