For years, my parents have planned to celebrate their thirtieth anniversary by taking an Alaska cruise.

My mom will be documenting the whole trip. She's very concerned about the safety of the cruise. A little online research proved that nearly all media—books, films, video games—with any kind of nautical theme (all of which seem aimed at boys) are all about disaster: pirates, terrorists, shipwreck. Yikes! No wonder she's worried. I tried to reassure her that the ship is very large and not likely to sink. "The Titanic was a big ship," she said, stone-faced. I think she still doesn't quite believe my claims that the trip will be more about buffets and shuffleboard than pegged legs, bombs, and being stranded on a desert island.

Speaking of the Titanic, there will be two formal nights that they will be required to dress for. This could be a problem for my parents, since they don't go to the opera regularly or have decent-looking sparkly clothes. My mom was anxious, so yesterday she dragged me along to go dress shopping at Macy's (formerly Boston Store, but they expanded. Why think small? Think Napoleonic!) We went immediately to the 50-70% off dress racks, scanning each rack quickly for high-end fabrics and cuts and pulling out everything that might be worth a second look. My mom looked through a few racks in a disgusted way and rejected everything I suggested. She found a velvet shirt and some embroidered silk pants almost immediately, and spent the rest of the time we were there saying "I'm done shopping! Let's go now!"

I left Macy's empty-handed, but that's okay. I've got the pleasure of knowing I'll have the house to myself for an entire week!! Ryan (my quasi-boyfriend) is still planning on visiting me this weekend. He sent me an email last night letting me know he finalized the trip. He'll be here Friday to Sunday. He told me "how excited he is to see me, and it's going to be so amazing."

I'm guessing it will be :)