Adventure on the High Seas

Today is my dad's 72nd birthday, and my friend Eddy's 83rd yesterday. We will be going to the Slocan Restaurant on East Hastings tonight to celebrate. What makes it special is that my mom and dad flew in from Calgary today to disembark with me on an Alaska Cruise aboard the Ms. Vollendam with Holland America Cruise Lines. We are staying on the Dolphin Deck, supposedly a metaphor for people who better know how to swim if there's an iceberg. Here's the ship I'm so damn excited!!!!

http://www.hollandamerica.com/main/DeckPlans.action?ship=vo&deck=m

We are staying in NN1800 and NN1801 Dolphin Deck - see if you can find us!

After deciding to take a motorcycle to Rio things changed with me and my parents. For starters, I promised them I would call them everyday. What I didn't say is that I meant for the rest of their lives. I was inspired by my mom telling me my grandpa used to call her everyday in the morning to chat. I asked if that got a little annoying to her, and she said "No, not at all, I kinda liked it". That was back on November 19th,and we've missed about 6 or 7 days since then.

What has been possible is a whole new understanding and closeness between us. I think they feel they can count on me more, and communicate with me more honestly. Every relationship needs consistency, and commitment of some kind to flourish. As I knew I would be leaving soon, I was so bold to ask if they would be interested in a cruise in Alaska sometime. I didn't know how I would afford it, I just knew I would make it work. They didn't seem to warm to the idea at all. Several weeks later, my dad called me on a Sunday morning while I was still in bed, and said "Speak now if you don't want to go to Alaska." The rest is history, shall we say.

I do not know what to expect on the first journey we will make together in 20 years. I know, as I committed to family on this trip, it will feel more like home than ever. I can't express to you people how much work went into getting to this point with my parents, but it really wasn't that hard, especially after I made a decision. Come hell or high water, I am going to make it my goal to get to know, and fully understand, the two people I have known longer, and more intimately than anyone else on this earth. For them to choose a baby that was not their own, and to take it home and love it despite their fears of pain and the unknown, is a choice that I will always be so touched by. Maybe I will finally get in touch with what that choice meant to them after all.