This weekend I received a box of what I call “bribes” — gifts from various port calls sent back so that I can enjoy them, too. Some might call them souvenirs, but as what I got was mostly from a place I’ve never been, I’m not sure that’s quite the right term.

Anyway, I got two lovely silk scarves, one light blue and one green, and I’m very excited to be able to wear them this fall when I visit a much cooler climate. I also got a little painted jewelry box and an elephant for my collection. ^_^

Deployment bribes are fun, but maybe my favorite part of the whole box I got was a DVD. There’s a program on the ship called “United Through Reading” and it’s supposed to be for parents to read to their children on camera and then it gets mailed home for the kids to have a bedtime story from mom or dad. Well…. the cats got a book read to them. Really, I got a DVD with J talking to me (and to the cats), but after a few minutes he realized he had a full 30 minutes of time on camera and decided to actually read me the book. And show all the pictures. But the snarky comments he made about each page had me in stitches. (It wasn’t that great of a book to start, so that didn’t help.)

Anyway, it’s good to have connections like that. I’m going to send a box back to him tomorrow with some odds and ends I’ve picked up for him, which I won’t include here in case he reads it and the surprise is ruined, and some lemonade powder since he’s drinking something like 12L of water a day. I figure flavor might make it easier.