Athens to Chichen Itza; He’s a good dog

Angel (this morning, to Lai; she’s on the back cement porch with the 4’ drop to grass wearing her pink roller skates. Her black and white border collie, Jamie, is happily sailing through the air from the couch we have out there to the grass below. I’m drinking coffee. I’m also protecting my coffee cup from a cheerfully flying dog landing beside me and picturing a spinning Lai falling off the concrete porch and breaking an arm or leg. I have a keen eye on both.) “I found a better cruise for us.” It’s closer and easier (last night I spent hours trying to figure out how to break up a 16 hour flight to Athens where my Dreamers group is cruising Sept. 2027 to make it easier for Lai. I googled, “What does it cost to fly from Austin to Athens (almost as much as the $5,000. cruise suite I want like I had in Miami.) It’s identical but with an even bigger Aft Sunrise deck. It’s directly at the back/aft of the ship with an incredible open view of where you’ve been. Sunset. Sunrise. Perfect. I’ve been picturing Mark holding private stunt/acting consultations on that gorgeous private deck. I had one of these suites last time, Miami to Jamaica & Grand Cayman, and loved it. I barely left my room. Mark socializes. I read books. He brought me fruit and pizza and brought people he wanted me to meet to my room. I did go to the Dreamers main events like Kyle’s preview of the Elvis movie he had just finished filming. Other than that it was me, my gorgeous room, my bathtub, most rooms have showers, but hot water makes my joints feel better, which always hurt from my spending 15,000 hours on my computer over a decade retranslating the Bible. I broke my body. Bathtub. Hot water. Gorgeous suite and huge deck. Ocean. The Athens room is identical but with a bigger private deck. Look in my photo albums.

Lai: (she knows very little yet about locations; a cruise to Athens means very little to her. A cruise is a cruise. Galveston is just fine.) “Why?”

Angel: “It’s closer and easier. We can drive to Galveston (we have before see my “Texas Tales” video of taking Lai & Skye to the San Luis oceanfront hotel in Galveston in my videos or on my website; I tell Lai we’re going to Paradise. She walks into the room, looks around, and says, “It’s Paradise all right.”)

Lai (unconcerned, a cruise is a cruise); “Ok. Jamie’s a really sweet dog. This is HIS couch you know. We put it here cause he likes to jump off. He jumps over that hole we dug right there.” She’s spinning.

Angel: “Stop, what’s that?” It’s a screw and the stopper on one of her skates.

Lai (picks it up, hands it to me) “Now I have ZERO brakes. The other one already fell off. That’s ok. I know how to stop anyway. Like THIS!” I’m still picturing broken bones. Jamie bounces by.

Angel: “It goes from Galveston to Cozumel, that’s in Mexico. We could go see a pyramid. Robin and I went there. I was younger. I climbed all the way to the top. Not all pyramids have slick sides. Some have stairs.”

Lai: “I COULD CLIMB TO THE TOP?!!!!!”

Angel: “Yes. You could. It’s called Chichen Itza.” Lai tries to say it. “I just call it Chicken It Za.” Lai tries to say it. She gets it right. She thinks that’s funny. It’s a way for her to remember it.

Angel: “Robin and I went to one other place. Islamorada. We went there in a boat. It took us where there were thousands of beautiful ocean fish. Like Dory. We had on masks and we snorkled with them all around us.”

Lai (her eyes have grown HUGE): “Like in “Finding Nemo?!!!!”

Angel: “Yes. Blue, orange, pink, green. Thousands of fish swimming all around us. The men on the boat cooked lunch for us. Well, made lunch. It was a salad of raw fish and lime. It was DELICIOUS!”

Lai: “I thought you’re not supposed to eat raw fish.”

Angel: (delicate subject, she’s right, and she LOVES sushi so I have to be careful) “Well, I don’t know. You’re right. …Maybe it was some kind of special fish. Anyway, I think that sounds like a better cruise.” Lai doesn’t care. She’s happy. I got nervous picturing taking her to Athens. 16 hours is a long flight. I tried to break it up with stops in London, Paris, Rome, Venice. I looked them up. For hours. I found a cruise from Spain to Athens. Maybe if we stopped in New York City… Lai’s already been there. So far she hasn’t fallen off the porch. “Where did Jamie go?”

Lai: “He’s right over there.” I look around the couch/porch corner.

Angel: “I was afraid he might go through that place in the fence with a missing board.”

Lai: “He won’t. He’s too big to fit. Besides, he’s a good dog. He’ll stay right here.

Copyright 2026 Angel Isaacs All Rights Reserved

Written February 20, 2026 at 3:29 pm