We’re looking back to this week 44 years ago, and to our Honeymoon! After having tied the knot on September 29th, the next day Susie and I embarked on a two week Honeymoon that was divided into 2 parts. First, a one week cruise from New York City to Hamilton, Bermuda! Unlike today with huge ships, our ship actually left from the west side of Manhattan and tied up in Bermuda right on Front Street in Hamilton! Because it was the only cruise leaving from New York on a Sunday, better than half the passengers were married couples that had been married the day before! Again, unlike today, everybody that came to see us off joined us in our cabin for a Bon Voyage party with champagne and appetizers prior to sailing!

The Holland American Line’s Volendam sailed September 30, 1979 with 731 passengers in 369 cabins, and we were told that there were 200 Honeymoon Couples on board! In fact, we were one of 4 couples at our table in the dining room and all 4 of us shared September 29, 1979 as our wedding day, and Billy Joel’s Love You Just The Way You Are as our wedding song! We gravitated towards Glenn and Martha who were from Baltimore, and spent a lot of our Honeymoon with them! I should also say that the other couples were jealous because we had a Double Bed in our cabin! Susie’s Travel Agent knew about the ship, and made sure to book us early enough so that we got one of the few doubles…the rest of our table-mates spent their Honeymoons in BUNK BEDS!!!

I remember eating almost around the clock on the two sea days sailing from NYC to Bermuda, and some other stuff we don’t need to talk about here (double bed remember). Almost as soon as the ship tied up in Hamilton, the 4 of us were off and in line at the Moped rental place! For the next 3 days, Martha, Glenn, Susie, and I explored the island of Bermuda from one end to the other. From the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, to old forts, to the beautiful sandy shore of Horseshoe Bay Beach, to the shopping on Front Street in Hamilton, to scenic St. George, and even the Royal Navy Yard, we saw it all! It was a wonderful 3 days exploring Bermuda with new friends, and having shipboard adventures on the way home. We were sad to say goodbye when the ship tied up on the West Side of Manhattan, but we were far from being done because our Honeymoon had a part two!

Both Susie’s folks and mine had Honeymooned in Niagara Falls, and we thought it would be fun to continue the tradition, and that’s where we spent week two! We packed up my red ’79 Mercury Capri and headed north, on the way exploring the Finger Lakes Region, and checking out several NYS wineries! We stayed on the Canadian side of the falls and did all the tourist attractions! From the Journey Behind the Falls, to the Cave of the Winds, to the boat ride practically under the falls on the Maid of the Mist, to the Incline Railway, and I’m sure others I’m forgetting. We changed into raincoats everywhere we went by the falls, and saw the falls light up at night! It was spectacular, and we were so glad we did it all, but that was 44 years ago, so let’s get back to Our Week in 2023!

Our weekend went off as usual, Saturday with a with a gathering of the Pennlyn Gang at the Tuckahoe Inn in Marmora, and as is our way, Sunday started with Bagel Sunday from Hot Bagels and More in Somers Point. Once it was 5 o’clock somewhere, we ended our day with Stir Stir Vodka in our living room! All was normal in the D’Elia Household!

Susie is a list person, and she had several long ones for the beginning days of the week of October 2nd! There are two things coming up in the near future we need to be ready for. First, our daughter Krissi and her husband Mike are coming Thursday and spending the weekend with us, and next Tuesday, Susie and I are loading up the Honda and heading down to see Our Boys (Son Kenny and his Husband Chris) in Florida for a couple of days! For some reason we seemed enthused, and we both ran through her lists, and ended the days tired, but very satisfied! There is nothing Susie likes better than crossing things off a list, and boy did she get to cross off a lot the first three days of our week!

This past Wednesday (10/4) marked the one year anniversary of the day that our dear friend Sue Waniak retired from her Tuesday night back bartender position at Charlie’s Bar and Restaurant in Somers Point. For years, Tuesday night at the back bar had been an appointment for many local friends to eat and drink with Sue, who had spent 32 years working at Charlie’s. On Wednesday, we met up with Sue and her husband Jim at Charlie’s front bar for a few drinks and dinner, and got to share the night with their son Chris who was bartending. Charlie’s has definitely been a family affair for the Waniaks, as at one time all 4 of them have worked there! We are thrilled that what started as a Waitress/Bartender/Customer relationship with Sue has grown into a friendship that we so value! I particularly love that when she’s at our house on a Friday night (something that happens almost weekly), I get to make her drinks!

Thursday Morning our daughter showed up at the house, having dropped her husband Mike off in Toms River with his co-worker. A quick cup of coffee, and for the rest of the day she was sequestered in the den, working! Krissi is an Administrator at Weill/Cornell Imaging, and spent the day in zoom meetings, on phone calls, and answering emails. Her husband Mike is a Manager at MS Walker Liquor Distributors, and his day was taken up visiting with clients in the South Jersey area. Thursday night, Mike got all dressed up and worked an event at the nearby Great Bay Country Club. It’s an MS Charity gathering that they do every year for one of their clients (Michael Bay from Passion Vines), but meanwhile it was a Thursday night, so creatures of habit we are, it was off to Angelo’s Fairmount Tavern and a visit with our Mancuso Family friends!

Krissi and Mike are doing something called “Sober October,” so while Susie and I participated in our Grey Goose Martinis with Julie at the bar, Krissi partook in soda water and pineapple juice! The up shot of this was that we now had a designated driver, so Susie and I had a carafe of House Red too! We also caught up with Theresa, who reported on the 4 Mancuso sisters’ trip to Aruba, and we got to hug Rhonda, who had lost her Mom since we last saw her! A nice evening with our only daughter before heading home, and then later picking up Mike!

Friday started with the two of them working. Remote working is great, but very different for Susie and I who spent years going to our place of work! Personally, I think I would have missed not going to a radio station for 44 years, but times change and we’re retired, so it is what it is. Krissi and Mike took off late morning, as Mike needed to be fingerprinted in New Jersey for some kind of license he needs in New Jersey, and Susie and I took the opportunity to sneak out for lunch at Ready’s Coffee Shop. Jan, our favorite waitress, (who is Jill Biden’s sister), did a good selling job and we enjoyed a pair of Cheesesteak Sandwich Platters, and then had a nice conversation with Doug, Ready’s owner.

Friday night we were were off to El Coyote, a great local Mexican restaurant we like, for a nice meal with 2 of our kids! “Sober October” plays in again, and and since we were headed to a BYOB, Susie and I enjoyed some Margaritas we threw together before we left home and were happy to have them drive!

And that’s how Our Week ended! And how was Your Week?