THE POINT OF NO RETURN

Dearest Friends,

In early May John sent me a letter, containing a handwritten copy of the resignation letter he had composed.  He wasn't certain yet, what he was going to do, but he asked me to type it up for him, just in case.

He'd only been gone about 16 days this time, when I got word that he might be in on the next boat.  Woohoo!  Early for once!  Too bad he would barely miss the last of Nellie's Mexican pot lucks.  I'd had it with that stupid "ski diet", so I threw caution to the wind, whipped up some Mexican rice and flour tortillas, and hitched a ride to the party with S & BD.  According to my diary, "I had a great time, and really gorged myself!"

The next day I got up early, changed linens and spiffed up the house, then drove out to the office to see when John's boat was expected in.  Afterwards I finished sewing the caftan I was making for him, and wrapped it all up, along with a few other anniversary gifts I had found for him.  We'd have to celebrate a few weeks early this year, before he went back offshore. 

He was supposed to get in by 8:00, but didn't show up until after midnight.  We stayed up talking most of the night, trying to figure out what we needed to do.  Finally, we came to a decision.  I dragged myself to work, and John went to the office -- to hand that resignation letter to his boss. Then we both prayed that we had made the right choice, cuz there was no going back now!

Yeah, I'm running out of pictures from Bahrain.  The top one is supposed to be John all happy to be getting home early, and this one is us, all pensive about the tough choice we needed to make.