Wimpy Considers Cruising
The Super Bowl of Marriage Maintenance!
(Excerpts of his Game plans from Tom & Mary past reviews)
“A marriage may be made in heaven, but the maintenance is done on earth.”
Mary has said the most memorable and best parts of our cruises are the things Wimpy does to surprise her. Wimpy views every cruise as
an opportunity to practice some major marriage maintenance. He prepares for each cruise like a coach prepares for the big game. He thinks about all the things he could do to surprise his Mary. After much soul searching, he carefully formulates his game plan. He knows defense wins the big games in football, but it’s the strong well thought-out offense that’s needed for a super week of marriage maintenance. Read the details of some of Wimpy’s successful game plans.
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The Star Princess
Anniversary Cruise 2007
Why We Became Addicted To Cruising
We are in our mid seventies and are fortunate to have our health. We try to live each day as if it was the last day of our life. We are not embarrassed to share our faith. We are unabashedly sentimental and make it a point to collect memories of the many wonderful times we have shared together. Many of our cruise experiences are part of that collection. Mary and I can’t think of a more romantic, intimate, exciting way to spend quality time with the one you love, than when cruising. When we talk of our cruises at home we refer to them as another “Honeymoon”. For those of you who are thinking you might take your first cruise, we warn you that there is a distinct possibility that you might become addicted. If you do, don’t despair, because cruising is an addiction that will not only benefit your well being, but will add an entirely new dimension to your life.
Our Mini Suite, Dolphin 728, Wimpy’s Base of Operations
As usual Wimpy attended to Wimpanizing the cabin. This time he brought with him the new aromatic Glades dispenser. Within moments 
of plugging it in, you could detect the fragrance of Gardenias, Mary’s favorite essence, wafting through the cabin. No sooner had he finished, there was a knock on our cabin door and an attendant handed Mary a beautiful bouquet of 11 red roses and one yellow rose. The card read, “You stand out in a bunch, just like this beautiful yellow rose, Love Wimpy.” When Mary read the card, she grasped Wimpy’s hand and said, “Only my Wimpy could think of this.” She was all smiles and gave me a hug and a kiss. I love it when I make Mary smile. Little did she know she was going to get another dozen roses on the second leg of our cruise? Wimpy had many surprises for Mary in a small piece of luggage he carried aboard. I wanted our anniversary celebration to be something special and I’m happy to tell you it exceeded my expectations.
Wimpy Executes His Game plan: Wimpy is a firm believer in what the famous Philosopher Henry David Thoreau wrote, “What you do and what you allow to enter your mind the first hours you are awake, will set the tone of your entire day.” Wimpy finds this great advice for every day of our life, but it is especially true when we’re cruising. Wimpy has found there isn’t a better way of doing that than starting the day by telling your loved one how you feel about her in a romantic way. That’s where Hallmark’s “Between You & Me” cards come into play. I will guarantee that whatever thoughts you have about your sweetheart that you might find hard to put into words, you will find expressed in the most beautiful poetic way, in one of the “Between You & Me Cards”. They have been the basis for many of the things Wimpy has done. He did something a little different on our last few cruises. He decided that since the cards he chose expressed his deepest thoughts and feelings, instead of having Mary read her cards, he would read them to her. But before I tell you how that worked out, I want to tell you about the very first thing Wimpy did upon awakening. A marker and 3×3 post-its are an important part in Wimpy’s arsenal. He made sure he was the first one in the John. Before he left the bathroom he wrote an expression of love on a post-it and pasted it on the bathroom mirror. Then he would crawl back in bed and wait for Mary to wake up. Before she returned from her morning ritual, he would roll over and reach into his bag of surprises, on his side of the bed. He would find the card he had designated for that day, and put it on her night table. He quickly reaches into his surprise bag again and picked out one of his pre-selected anniversary presents and placed it on top of the card. Then when Mary came back to bed he had Mary hand him her card, and he would settle back in bed and read it to her. I get such a kick when Mary opens a present. Regardless what it is, she opens a present as if it was the first gift she has ever received.
Mary thinks chimpanzees are the cutest little guys, so Wimpy decided to surprise her with a little monkey. He toured the greater Daytona 
area until he found an animated monkey. Don’t know if it was a true chimpanzee, but I was worn out; I would have settled for anything that remotely looked like a monkey. It was animated and made a funny sound that I guess was supposed to imitate the way a monkey talks. I placed it on top of Mary’s card the last day of the cruise and told her an exaggerated story of what a grueling effort it was, tracking all over Daytona and nearby communities to find her a monkey. Mary countered by telling me, “Don’t you remember the story you once told me about a native boy who walked many miles to bring the departing missionary a couple sea shells as a parting gift. When he handed them to the missionary he said, ‘Long walk part of gift.’ Well, my dear Wimpy, your no missionary, but I do think your determined effort was part of the gift.” We both had a good laugh. Wimpy earned additional credits with Mary with evening pillow surprises. It was a lot of fun to keep surprising Mary, and I want you to know, not only did I do a lot of smiling during the cruise, but, since I have been home. I find myself smiling even when there isn’t anything to smile about. After an hour or so, Wimpy made it to the phone and called room service. We always finished our wonderful mornings by having coffee on our balcony while looking out at the beautiful, tranquil waters of the Caribbean. Can you possibly imagine us having a bad day after beginning our days in this fashion? I said out loud, “Henry David Thoreau . . . if you can hear me . . . Mary & I want to say thank you for these wonderful mornings.”
Wheelhouse Lounge: After dinner Wimpy took Mary to one of their favorite dance venues, the Wheelhouse Lounge. The seating is very nice. It consists of groupings of richly upholstered love seats, the kind of intimate setting Mary and I like. A husband and wife duo, 
Steed & Steed, who played guitar and keyboard, played the kind of music we enjoyed dancing to. Their repertoire consisted of songs like, Embraceable You, The Shadow of Your Smile, Unforgettable, Stardust, all those great tunes from yesteryear that tell our loved ones of our feelings with beautiful lyrics, much better than we could in words. What a wonderful setting to start our celebration of our anniversary, to be able to hold Mary tightly in my arms as we danced and listened to the beautiful words of those grand old melodies.
Look at Me – Look at Us: We often wonder if people that dance apart from each other, especially the young folks, going through all sorts of gyrations, never having body contact with their partners, know what they’re missing. We are willing to bet if these young people spent one evening dancing with their arms around each other, they would soon discover that it’s a lot more fun. I know we might be stirring up a hornets’ nest with the following comments, but it appears to us when we watch couples that dance apart from each other, it seems there saying, look at me, whereas when we are watching couples dancing in each other’s arms, they seem to be saying, look at us. I hope we haven’t offended anyone, we might be letting the romanticism of our anniversary get the best of us.
Mary Gave Wimpy Four Cards: At appropriate times during the cruise, Mary gave Wimpy four of the most beautiful, meaningful cards imaginable. She wrote a note about our relationship on each card, in words I will cherish forever. When we returned home, I added them to my collection of ‘Mary Notes,’ one of which I read every morning before I pray. As you can well imagine, we had an anniversary that we will long remember. We feel this 35th anniversary was a celebration of life. We both were previously married for more than 20+ years, and on this cruise we celebrated our 35th anniversary … 35 years of a wonderful, happy, fruitful marriage. We are indeed fortunate that God has chosen to use us an example of how He can take troubled lives and make them into something beautiful. Mary and I have a great deal to be thankful for. The more we cruise the more we realize, the things we do and the way we relate to each other makes our cruises what they are, much more so than the ship we’re on or the itinerary we sail. That’s why we say in all our reviews, regardless of one’s age, we can’t think of a more romantic, intimate, exciting way to spend quality time with the one you love, then when cruising… and every cruise we make reinforces that thought.
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These Twilight Years: We hope we can inspire folks in the latter stages of their life to live their life to the fullest. For those of you who are physically able, we strongly suggest you don’t wait until tomorrow, next week, or next year to do your heart’s desire. Do everything
you can do, while you can do it. Life is meant to be lived. Your last chapters can be your best. Your final song can be your greatest. We never dreamed we would be cruising at our age. Mary gave me permission to reveal our ages. I will be 83 shortly and my Mary is 86. We are presently looking at cruise brochures for 2011.
The Wonder of Life
There is a rawness and wonder to life. Hunt for it. Sell out to get it. Don’t listen to the whines of those who have settled for a second-rate life and want you to do the same so they won’t feel guilty. Your goal is not to live long; it’s to live.
Jesus says the options are clear. On one side is the voice of safety. You can build a fire in the hearth, stay inside, and stay warm and dry and safe. You can’t get hurt if you never go out, right? You can’t be criticized for what you don’t try, right? You can’t fail if you don’t take a stand, right? You can’t lose your balance if you never climb, right? So, don’t try it. Take the safe route.
Or you can hear the voice of adventure. . . God’s adventure. Instead of building a fire in your hearth, build a fire in your heart. Follow God’s impulses. Adopt the child. Move overseas. Teach the class. Change careers. Run for office. Make a difference. Sure it isn’t safe, but what is?
You think staying out of the cold is safe? Jesus disagrees. “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it.” I like the words of Douglas MacArthur when he was seventy-eight: “Nobody grows old by living a certain number of years: People grow old by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle your skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul.” Reclaim the curiosity of your childhood. Just because you’re near the top of the hill doesn’t mean you’ve reached your peak.
Your last chapters can be your best. Your final song can be your greatest. It could be that all of your life has prepared you for a grand exit. God’s oldest have always been among his choicest . . .
He Still Moves Stones,, Max Lucado
May your next cruise be your best!
Our Warm regards,
Tom & Mary Milano
If you would like to receive our daily “A Thought To Start Your Day” e-mail tomandmarymilano@yahoo.com.
That Wimpy Character, Tom’s Cruise Persona:
Tom had been a Macho man most of his early life. In his latter years he began to realize when he did those little wimpy things for Mary, you know, those little wimpy things women like men to do, his lovely Mary gave him a lot more reason to smile. Although Tom was macho, he was no dum-dum. When Tom & Mary are at sea on another “Honeymoon,” he takes on the Wimpy persona to its highest degree. He views cruising as the “Super Bowl” of marriage maintenance and uses these occasions to do all sorts of lovely little wimpy things for his Mary. His credo is:
“A marriage may be made in heaven, but the maintenance is done on earth.”