Today we board the Golden Princess where we join dear friends Kevin and Tanya for a reunion onboard the very vessel on which a timeless friendship was forged back in 2006.
They have been sailing on the Golden all the way from Singapore, and we can't wait to hear about their trans-Pacific crossing while we settle into seven bucolic days on the Southbound Passage from Whittier to Vancouver, BC.
Before we sail, however, we take time to remember our beloved friend Nick whom we sadly lost earlier this year. Our reunion is destined to be bittersweet. We reconnect with Kevin and Tanya onboard the Golden Princess, where our enduring friendship with them and with Nick and Pam was forged back in 2006. Through a confluence of events involving a gnome, a jerk named Newt and series of shared private tours that could only be called karmic, something truly amazing happened - we six became inseparable! Incredible, considering we hail from polar opposite sides of the world, but God has a great sense of humor!
Sydney → Sacramento → New York. Who could have imagined one little gnome could spark a bond transcending all time and reason? We laughed until our sides ached as we sailed from Rome to Venice! After hugs and tearful goodbyes, we all miraculously ran into each other again in a random piazza in Venice the day after disembarkation! We knew we then that we were fated never to part again!
We connected time and again - in NY, Las Vegas, Fire Island and on Skype in our 1-hour window on Saturday night (Sunday morning if you are in Sydney!). We cruised with Nick and Pam on the Ruby to England, Scotland and Ireland. They hosted Kevin and Tanya at their ranch one year and I am still sorry we were not able to join them then. Every time we got together, the laughter resonated, and we couldn't get the whole gang together given the overwhelming logistics of our geographic disparity, we Skyped the others so we could still be with one another!
It's inexplicable how that random cruise netted so much more than memories! We came home with a "family" and we enjoyed that miracle for twelve precious years until last March when sadly, the laughter paused to give way to tears.
We were supposed to travel together today, alas, our dear friend Nick was called home to God. With his usual passion, Nick had planned much of this trip, and yet sadly, he won't be sailing, however when we espy an eagle soaring overhead, we will know he is with us still! My final treasured note from him, wishing us a great cruise in Nick's inimitable and unselfish hand, will be carried close to my heart for the duration of our voyage, and treasured forever thereafter. We will toast him, and his dear widow Pam and beloved daughter Dawn when the ship's bells ring out to announce our departure this evening, and he will be deeply, sorely missed.
When the tears dry someday, we will laugh once more as we remember the great times we shared! And we will most certainly meet again. When we do, I know Nick will have a map! He will know where the best eateries in the area are, will have a lead on a fabulous cloud with just the right view (and at the right price!) and he will, no doubt, hook us up with some incredible tour guides with wings. Until we meet again... Con Te Partiro William T. Nickerson III....
In loving memory of Nick Nickerson - the greatest map reader, shorex planner, cruise-mate and friend we have ever known. You are sorely missed, and yet somehow we know you are always with us!