A glimmer of hope.  So small you’re afraid it may only be your wild imaginings.  You do a reality check.  You make sure you’re grounded and look again.  It’s there.  But very faint.

All measures to strengthen the possibility of success are undertaken.  It seems each step closer is accompanied with two that push you farther away because you’re working against the clock.  But you still hope.  And even as the glimmer begins to fade from sight you keep it alive in your heart.  Maybe – just maybe – the world will work its magic and fate will spin you in the direction you wish.

It’s silly really.  I didn’t even imagine it was a possibility until about 8:30 pm last night.  But even in that small window of time, from then until now, I hoped it would work.  I had hope I could make it happen.  I called every agency I could find.

No luck.

What a shame.  He was adorable.   I was positively taken in by his romantic charm when he chased me down and very publicly (in front of an entire party) got my number because though he hadn’t ever met me, he had seen me 6 months ago, remembered me, (I remembered him too!) and he wasn’t going to allow me to walk out of his life again without a proper introduction.

He took me to dinner last night. He was supposed to be in Long Beach but caught a later flight and worked it out so that he could still take me to dinner.  That’s right.  He made sure he could take me to dinner before I leave for Australia.  Can we say “charming?”  We only got 2.5 hours together but he was adorable the entire time (the cute flattery he was throwing down didn’t hurt either.) And since he’s a friend of a friend, and a very wanted bachelor, I know it was saying something for him to not only coordinate time to see me on the day of his flight but also to give up a FRIDAY night, and to be my date at MY friend’s surprise birthday dinner.

HOWEVER – completely aside from him – I wanted to go anyway!  Linds and I had talked about it before but I wasn’t going to be in town so we didn’t book it.  You see I SHOULD be in Australia right now – but a mess up at school kept me in Utah longer.

And then he happened to mention he would be going on the VERY cruise Linds and I had wanted to book.  He turned to me and with an adorable smile he said, “Please come!” and I thought – why not?  We know tons of people on the cruise and even if I spend no time with him at all – I’ll be having fun and spending time with other friends!!

And that’s when we saw a glimmer of hope – which was almost smashed after 12 hours of searching for an available room with no luck.  The ship was sold out and it leaves TOMORROW.

And now – RIGHT NOW – I’ve just sent in a confirmation of booking.  In an unexpected twist of fate, a travel agency in Canada called Carnival at the very moment someone cancelled and we were able to take the room.  The VERY LAST ROOM.  A room that no other agency had been able to procure.

So folks – I’m off to Mexico!!  I’ll take tons of pics and will undoubtedly have GREAT stories to tell soon.