Prepared

Okay, so you know how I've described my life as a comedy? As always, it continues. 

On Monday, we're going to live through a cyclone, Flossie. Yup, a cyclone. 

Mike is upset. He was also disappointed the hotel wasn't closer to the beach. It's one block away. No matter. We're headed out of the city to a more remote resort this afternoon after we see Pearl Harbor anyway. But Mike wanted it to be closer. 

Oh, I get it.  he was planning the perfect vacation and stuff started to interfere. Flossie. Plus, Nick has a cold, though that didn't stop the boy from lying face down in the water for two and a half hours with a snorkel on his face yesterday, finding bits of broken sea shells, pebbles, and coral for me. 

I'm only worried that we might not be able to go kayaking. Can you imagine? Glass-bottom kayaks in a cyclone? 

To tell you the truth, I'm happy just being here. It's not my plan, see. It's Mike's. 

I remember that I was aggravated that my plan was messed up when we were in Ireland, sleeping in a castle, and Mike caught a cold and missed out on the best chocolate croissants of his life. That was not fair. Not fair at all. 

So I can understand Mike's disappointment that Flossie has insinuated herself into our trip. 

I'm back out on my terrace. The surfers are out. It's only 6:10 am. They didn't finish last night until it was full-on dark. I wonder if they'll surf the cyclone? A dedicated bunch, those surfers. 

I have a visitor, a white dove or a pigeon. 

I wonder if she'll surf the cyclone. She'll probably hunker down like we will. Being white, she looks like a pet. I want to feed her and talk to her, but I saw signs yesterday that feeding the birds was illegal. I wonder if she was ever part of a wedding. 

Maybe I should name her Flossie. 

The irony of this weather is that, as we were packing, I asked Mike if he was bringing his rain jacket. 

"Probably not," he said. "Do you really think you're doing to need it?" My suitcase weighed 47 pounds, three pounds away from the airline limit. Any more and I could pay a steep penalty. 

"What about Nick's jacket?"

"He packed it. Leave it."

"He only packed it because I made him."

"Still, he packed it."

"So are you going to bring yours?"

"I don't know yet, but I still have room in my suitcase for stuff. How are you going to get extra stuff home if your suitcase is already full?"

We're buying stuff too? Now, this really is a vacation!

So I went through my stuff. I'd need most of the tank tops, though not as many. I could skip the nebulizer because Mike said if Nick got that sick, we'd get him a new one. 

And my raincoat. Why bother? I'm going to be wet, in my bathing suit the whole time anyway. 

So when Mike told me Flossie was coming along, I said, "We'll hike Diamond Head that day. It won't be so hot. But I don't have my rain jacket."

"I've got mine," Mike said cheerfully. 

"I've got mine too!" Nick piped in. 

Go figure. 

Thank you for listening, jb