There’s a quote from
my favorite movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” that goes something like this:
George is talking with his Uncle Billy, and asks him “Do you know what the 3
most exciting sounds in the world are?” Uncle Billy responds, “Breakfast is
served. Lunch is served. Dinner is ….” To which George interrupts, “No, no, no!
Anchor chains, plane motors, and train whistles.” I concur with George Bailey completely!
I left Baby (my car) at Moultons, and they graciously gave
me a ride to the Seattle Pier. Even with Pre-Check-In, it’s a bit of an ordeal
– but an hour of lines and jumping through the requisite hoops, and I was
walking up the gangway to board the Explorer of the Seas.
A few years ago Tahitian Noni had their annual convention on
a Royal Caribbean cruise and I was one of the few employees that was selected
to attend – and this ship was almost her twin sister. I walked into the
familiar lobby and knew the full layout of the ship almost instantly, so I
turned and headed to my room.
My roomie hadn’t shown up yet, so I dropped my bags and went
outside – then out to the Muster Drill. Before you sail, you always have to
spend 30 minutes running through the emergency drill – and since we were going
to Alaska thoughts of icebergs and Titanic made it sound like an extra good
idea.
The crewmate that was in charge of my Muster Station was
Chris, a singer in the Musical Spectaculars onboard. He’s been on this ship,
same route for 4 years – and he loves it. He gets to meet thousands of
interesting people, and he gets to sing for a living – which makes his heart
happy. He pitched the show to me, and I promised that I’d be in the audience
for the two performances he had. (Also made me wonder if I should have tried
harder when I interviewed with Royal Caribbean a few years ago.)
Anyway, it was time
for the ship to Set Sail – so, camera in hand, I headed I headed up to the Bow
to watch as the shoreline pulled away. It’s an interesting sensation to be
standing perfectly still and having the world around you shift – but the wind
in my hair made a selfie nearly impossible.
What a beautiful view to see the shoreline from out in the
water. And soon the serenity of water all around enveloped me. There is
something incredibly comforting about being afloat out in the water. When I was
little my dad taught Red Cross Canoeing Lessons, so from age 5 I was out in a
boat paddling around. When you canoe every single Saturday morning, you get
really good really fast – and by the time I was 8 I was obnoxiously good, and
certainly too good to sit on shore during his class. I would sneak a canoe and
paddle out all alone to the island in the middle of the lake – with many
concerned adults pointing me out to the Instructor, Dad. He’d just shrug his
shoulders and admit that I was his daughter, and then “talk” to me after class.
It never slowed me down – I simply couldn’t wait to be out in the water. And
here on this cruise ship, that same sensation of exhilaration and freedom on
the water returned.
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