All good things must come to an end

If our life in the lap of luxury had to end, what better place than the island of Mykenos? Jon and I spent our last day getting lost in the whitewashed maze of blue-domed churches, red-painted windmills, windy narrow streets, and layered terraces overflowing with flowers. Although Jon had been there before, I had only seen the enchantment of the island through the cheesy movie lens of “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants II” (yes, there was a sequel, and yes, I saw it (on an airplane if that makes it better)). I found myself enchanted by the colors of the sea mirrored back by the colors of the doors, windows, rooftops, and store fronts. The town was clearly eager to impress the hordes of tourists, and painters were constantly whitewashing everything everywhere – paint fumes forcing us to flee the shopping areas for the better views higher up in town. Highlights include the windmill watch-cat; the view overlooking town; and the puppy I found (a Red Dog look alike) to lick my face for a few minutes at the end of the day. Again, I bought nothing. But, Jon bought all his male friends bead bracelets – basically a set of worry beads that men constantly swing as a symbol of their independence and freedom from the domination of women (so said the description). He bargained hard this time: male independence comes at a price of about $5.

Thus, all shopped out, we returned to the boat, I ate one last veggie burger, and we shared a bottle of wine on our private veranda. Then, we started the longer-than-expected process of packing our bags – mine now 2x the original size with stolen booty from the boat and all the goodies Jon brought me from home. While packing, and maybe while slightly inebriated (or was that me?), Jon dropped his phone on his toe and banged a door hook in response to the sharp pain – cutting his hand and replacing my melancholy with some snickering (Jon says his hand still hurts!). Then, packing complete and our bags out the door, we took a moment to revel in our good fortune of having shared such an elegant adventure. Crystal Cruises: see you again when we are 80!

Now, I am back in Lilongwe, Malawi. Jon is back in Duyr, NC. I don’t think that it was just the delirium of travel that made me happy to return here, which is a good sign. I’m back at work, back to house hunting (more on being re-homeless later), and back to trying to find a car to get myself around. Of course, I miss the butler. But I miss Jon more.