The excitement of Friday just isn’t what it used to be. I’m not about to kick off an exciting weekend or celebrate the end of a grueling work week. Instead, I reflect on an uneventful week of doctor appointments, 5k runs, granddaughter sitting, drug store visits, a haircut, chair yoga, birthday calls, reading, the movie “Jesus Revolution,” and more of several TV series, Lost, 1923, Gold Rush, Pawn Stars, and Curse of Oak Island. Watching the I.U. basketball loss was another 2 hours of wasted time. My wife was much busier, as usual, with bridge club, aqua-fit, dog park visits, tap class, cooking, and a book signing event. With this busy retirement schedule, upcoming travel expenses, and company in town we haven’t had a true ‘Date Night’ in several weeks. It’s nice to stay close to home, but that will soon change. 

I organized an afternoon at the ballpark a week from Monday with some neighbors, taking advantage of our proximity to the Atlanta Braves Spring Training facility. Next week we’ll be in Vegas and Orlando, dealing with traffic, flights, hotels, shuttles, reservations, and lines – all my favorite travel hassles. We’re not even really going anywhere new. Friends and family will be the biggest attraction. When we get back in a week, more ‘framily’ are coming to visit, and we’ll begin preparations for our long-awaited trip to Egypt. 

This Egyptian cruise has been postponed and rescheduled multiple times over the last three years. Four weeks away is the closest we’ve come to actually getting there with Covid, safety issues, and war interfering with our plans. I continue to observe the horror stories of my friends with airline cancellations, strikes, shutdowns, river level concerns, and lack of personnel taking the fun out of world travel. I don’t know what to expect as our departure date gets closer and closer. Is it even worth getting excited?

We have been exceptionally fortunate dealing with a lifetime of constant travel. There have been few serious setbacks. We’re in fact lucky that plans changed on our trip to Phoenix. My wife and I could currently be dealing with flight delays due to snow along our once planned route into Mexico and Tucson. Friends just spent a night in the Phoenix airport. We expect rare, cool temperatures in Vegas. Maybe the slots will be hot! Anyway, just as I was unprepared to write this post – just wingin’it – we’ll be just wingin’ it on our quest of being jackpot winners!