Everyone familiar belongs to Janet. All mistakes are solely mine. What Julie packed is something I saw online.

"Where are we now, Uncle Ranger?" Mary Alice asked me.

"Are we off the coast of North Carolina or South, Uncle Carlos?" Angie said before I had a chance to answer her sister.

"Your navigational skills are impressive, Angie," I made sure to tell her before turning to my other niece. "We are sailing past South Carolina now, Mary Alice."

"If I'd known it was so easy to run/sail away from Jersey, I would've done something like this years ago," my wife shared.

"We can do it anytime you want, Babe. No reason required."

"You would take us with you again. Right, Aunt Steph?" Mary Alice asked her.

"Definitely. It wouldn't be as much fun without you guys. Admitting that though, means I'll have to plan my escapes for when school's out or only for weekend-long disappearances, but I can do that with no problem if it gets you girls a break too. I know I wouldn't want to be your age right now. I thought I had it bad, but the stress has leveled-up for your generation."

It is a little concerning what dangers and stress-sources will have been created by the time Olivia is their age. Our baby had been mostly alright with being on a ship except for the fact that she's not allowed to roam further than an arm's length away from us. So she hasn't been fully enjoying the freedom from daily life as much as her sister and cousins are.

"When do we get to see if Grandpa Plum can catch something as big as Mama Manoso brags she has?" Mary Alice asked us.

My mother looped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick hug. "Oh my dear, Mary Alice, it is not considered bragging if you have pictures and trophies to back up what you're boasting about. Are you sure you don't want to join the winning team? There is always room for you."

My niece measured Frank for a few silent beats. "You really think you can teach me what I need to know fast?"

"No real pressure, Dad," Steph told Frank, "but there are some bragging rights at stake here. My Mama-in-law isn't lying. I've seen with my own eyes the trophies she has under her belt, even two 'Bass' belt buckles."

"There is no limit to my wife's love for me," Papa Manoso added. "If I needed a last minute partner for a fishing tournament, she volunteered with a smile on her face and a kiss placed sweetly on my lips."

A split screen right now of Frank and my father's faces would have been a priceless shot. My parents refused to be away from each other for any serious length of time, while Stephanie's parents require a mile's-wide separation. Maybe there is a hint of truth in one of Helen's attempted insults. 'My people' are definitely not like those who are faking 'the good life' in the Burg. The mask will always slip as Helen has recently proven.

"It's okay, Grandpa," Mary Alice began, exhibiting just how like Stephanie she is. "We don't have to make this a competition. I'm just happy you're willing to help me learn how to catch something."

"Everyone wanted that honor, M.E.," Steph told her. "Not only your Grandpa Plum and Mama Manoso, but Uncle Ranger, Papa Manoso, Bobby, and Nemit, too. You had a personal goal for this trip, and you had a team behind you ready to help you accomplish it."

"Really?"

"Yes," I promised her. "This vacation is meant for everyone to enjoy. You wanted a postable picture of your first solo capture. Angie wants a book from every port-city we stop at. And Julie made me promise to teach her Morse code over the course of this week. We're making progress on all counts."

"When your Dad first told me about your requested lessons, Jules," Steph said, shifting Olivia in her arms to slide one around Julie, "I got worried. Were you expecting something disastrous to happen requiring a Mayday call from you?"

I hate knowing that I'm solely responsible for the 'prepare for everything' side of my daughter's personality, but I'm also so fucking proud of the young woman she's become. Julie had packed for both fun and function, bringing along with her two packages of long, clay-based corkscrews that glow-in-the-dark. Not only had she thought of sharing some cousin-time with Steph's nieces, once those spirals were woven into the girls' hair, my daughter knew everyone would be easily spotted at night wherever they are, adding a fashionable safety precaution.

My daughter's idea wasn't unlike Stephanie's thinking when she bought hair ties for Olivia that had warning bells attached. What made Julie's foresight even more special for me, is Steph, Valerie, and also my mother, wove at least one glowing hair-twist into their hair as well, creating a united tribe within our larger one.

"Nothing more dramatic than Olive throwing her shoes overboard," Julie assured Steph after a beat.

My wife pretended to glare at her. "Don't say that where your sister can hear you. It took a solid year of convincing her that shoes aren't the enemy. It'll take me another year of work for her to accept that her shoes or sandals don't need baths themselves if she sees them floating in the ocean."

"You don't know exactly what I said. Do you, Olive?" She asked, going on tiptoes to kiss her baby sister's cheek.

"She's half your Dad, and you too. Plus, she's a lot like me. Believe me, she knows everything. More so if it involves trouble she can get herself into."

"You worry too much," my daughter declared.

"Yup, I definitely do. When you find something you're good at, you stick with it. And I always worry about those I love. Looks like your Aunt Valerie and Grandma Mazur have taken the opposite approach to this week … trying not to be too concerned about anything more stressful than sitting around the pool while deciding which smoothie to try today," my wife said, with a chin-jut her family's way.

"Grandma Plum has been acting weird lately," Angie shared. "I think they needed a break from her."

"Has she done anything to you girls?" Steph asked, letting Olive run towards Tank's position just feet away from us.

"Naw," Mary Alice answered. "She's the same as always … telling us to wash our hands twice before we eat, ordering me not to make animal noises in the house, and reminding us that ladies don't swear. What?"

"Sorry," my wife said. "I couldn't stop that snort. I learned some of my more colorful language while eavesdropping at church potlucks we went to."

"Damn it … I should've gone to some of those instead of pretending to be sick when Mom drove Grandma Mazur to a few."

"Don't push it with the curses, Mary Alice. But I'm glad you didn't go. Lying isn't the answer, but neither is the way those biddies talk about the same people they're supposed to be in church praying for."

We all looked over as Tank approached, our daughter perched on his arm as if riding on the largest parade float. "If this little lady keeps seeking me out, I'm going to go with your 'finders keepers' rule, Steph."

"Yeah, I wouldn't suggest it," my wife warned, opening her arms so our daughter could fill them. "I thoroughly zapped Hal when I barely knew what I was doing. You don't wanna see what I'd do now to keep my kids and nieces with us. Olive just likes a handsome face. That knowledge is keeping Ranger up at night. Literally, since he's the handsomest in the land ... and the best-looking out at sea too."

"Ewww!" Our group of girls shouted.

"You're talking about my Dad, Steph," my eldest felt the need to point out.

"Yeah, and our Uncle too, Aunt Steph," Angie said with a dramatic nose-wrinkle that surpassed Julie's.

"Your Dad and Uncles are good-looking guys," my wife teased. "Since you see them all the time, you know I'm right."

A throat clear paused my wife's play. "Um, aren't we supposed to be stopping soon to fish?" Frank asked us, staying silent up until that point.

Steph is still hoping he'll learn what relaxed banter is and maybe one day venture into the thick of it with us, instead of standing with a visibly-stiff body and a nervous shuffle of his feet giving away his discomfort. Remembering how long it took Stephanie to feel comfortable just with me saying that I love her, I do know it is possible to overcome decades of emotional neglect with dedication and a fair amount of patience.

"Oooh, someone's ready for a woman to show how she can feed her family," my mother said, dropping the gauntlet.

Frank picked it up. "I brought home a cooler full of trout for my family every time I went fishing."

"That's nice, but my lovely husband and I kept an eye on six kids while we provided dinner for all of them, plus the two of us."

Steph grinned at me. "You being an Army Ranger is making even more sense now. You were taught survival skills likely before you escaped the womb."

Now I wanted to do a version of the girls' Ewww. I love my mother with everything in me, but I feel more comfortable believing I was just the result of a secret super-Soldier program the government hatched, rather than picturing how Olivia was conceived and delivered in relation to my parents.

"The Manosos believed in teaching their offspring everything they knew, Babe, not just the basics."

"That tradition continues," she replied. "Julie and Olive know more than I do."

"Not true."

"The Boss is right, Steph," Bobby said, happy to take over Olive-duty if my wife released her again. "However unconventional your approach is, you survived things no one else could or should have."

"What things?" Frank was quick to ask.

"Did Mom ever mention a rabbit?" Steph asked him.

"The one your sister wanted when she was six after seeing that Bambi movie?"

"No. That's not a story for today, it'll have to wait and be a conversation for another day. Let's drop our anchor … wait is that what Nemit does with this thing?"

"Yes. He'll decide on a prime piece of fishing real estate and then keep the ship anchored until Mary Alice gets her Spanish Mackerel."

Steph's face wrinkled now. "Can't she just catch a fish stick that's already fried and ready to dip in ketchup …?"

"Or tartar sauce," Julie corrected.

"Sure, that too. I'm not a big fan of the cleaning part of this particular hobby."

"It's alright," I assured her. "Olivia will be due for a nap by the time their lines are cast. You can hide out in our room with her for the 'cleaning' part. And I'll put in an order for a pizza for your supper if you like."

"I love you," she shared.

"I know."

"Okay then," my mother said. "Julie, let's get ready to show your cousins how fishing is done in our family."

In my mother's mind, this is an extremely friendly rivalry. It will accomplish what she had intended for this trip … she got Frank to see how important time spent with family is. Mary Alice, Angie, Lisa, and Frank, may not catch the biggest fish - or any at all - but it's a memory they will all be able to pull out and retell together for years to come.