July 27 - “Like a Normal Person ...”

We woke yesterday morning to the sound of foghorns sounding.  Loud foghorns sounding.  From our ship.  It sounded at least six or seven times.  One of them woke Chris from a deep sleep.  I think she was dreaming about the Titanic or something.  Now, Corey Geran has already assured us that we’re fine unless the string duet becomes a quartet and they start playing “Nearer My God to Thee.”  

The big activity on the ship was shopping.  Lots of shopping.  They even co-opted one of the dining rooms to set up a flea market to do their best to dump their extra merchandise.  They even had stuff from cruises to New Zealand.  Chris got a pretty scarf thingie and some Christmas presents.  

Chris and Sheri sat around a jewelry store waiting for a raffle of free jewelry.  Three guesses how that turned out.  Oh, have I told you yet about the wisdom of the diamond industry?  We heard it more than once: “Only one in every ten white diamonds is yellow.”  Hmm.

We had an authentic English pub lunch.  Fish and chips.  really good.  We could have ordered kidney pie.  Nope.  We did like the quiet atmosphere after a week of eating at the buffet.

Our late night card game was moved to middayNone of us knows what time it is anymore anyway.  And we didn’t even finish the game.  We saw the Canadian Pilot boat delivering our pilot for the Inside Passage, so we decided to go to our rooms and watch for whales.

Our travel agents threw us all a Last Night Cocktail/Coketail (Cute, huh?) party.  I had a Virgin margarita.  Tasted like a lime slushie.  After the party we decided to try again at the card game.  We barely got in a game or two, in spite of the accident Cary experienced.  Something like that might embarrass some people, so I won’t even mention that his pants were a little ... well, “damp.”  No details other than that.  And you certainly didn’t hear that from me.

Our last supper in the fancy dining room became a raucous affair.  Not at the start, mind you.  One of the options for appetizers was a combination lobster, shrimp and squid spam.  Nope.  Not going there at all.  Ever.  I ended up ordering their version of deep sea Kingfish.  Good stuff.  Chris had the salmon again.  She really likes that stuff.  

Then began the wild side.  Dessert.  The waiters all got in a line and marched around the room carrying baked Alaska and singing.  All the patrons were asked to wave their napkins and shout.  And then, so we would remember them and be sure to speak highly of them, we were asked to dance the chicken dance with them.  Told you it got wild and crazy.  But that wasn’t the crazy part.  Our table of six ordered no less than 11 desserts.   Cary ate three of them all by himself, and before long he was rocking a major sugar high.  Wayne had three as well, but he was sneaky about it.  He just went into a sugar coma.  The girls each had one.  I just had two.  Like a Normal Person.  We had to have one “normal” guy at the table ...

The night ended early.  That’s because we had to have our suitcases all packed and outside our rooms before 10:00.  With all the extra souvenirs and stuff, we were all weighing and rearranging right up to the deadline.  Now it’s on to a long day of bus riding and flying back to Dallas.  

Here’s a classic for you.  John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.”

Father, it’s still a long way to Galveston.  Thank you for this experience.  It was unforgettable.  Amen.