I was thinking last night about why people cruise, because it never quite occurred to me to do so, as I mentioned in my first post. But now, my first day out, being at sea feels like tapping a vital primordial urge, to find a new place and truly understand the magnitude of the journey in a way you can’t from a plane or train or car. It’s analog, nautical mile by mile. It’s one of the deepest connections we have.

The other thing I realized tonight is that I never, ever just unplug for long periods of time. My boyfriend, Jack, has come on this trip with me–we left all our kids at home–and we just got to hang out. We sat on an empty deck and watched the sun go down. We ate, we played Scrabble. A tight band played demographically appropriate covers while people played life-size Jenga and checkers. There was some jump-roping going on. It was just fun, for fun’s sake. To bring us back to who we were, or are. I forgot that I’m such a badass jump-roper.