January 21 - “Water, water everywhere”

We woke up after our weird night with “The Joiner” to some pretty rough seas.  Chris went down for the count after some breakfast.  I admit I joined her and crashed on the couch in our room.  We even took some Dramamine.  We both slept for a long time.  Dramamine does that to me.  Apparently to Chris as well.  When I woke up I found a movie channel on TV, so I let Chris sleep some more.  Yep. We both definitely needed that.

We ventured out to the buffet for some lunch.  So did much of the rest of the ship.  There weren’t any tables available.  All was not bad, though.  We met a and shared a table with a couple from Alvin, David and Jeannine.  She was 90 years old.  He was 93.  Spry as a couple of chickens.  Been married 70 years.  Chris told them that was our goal.  It was a lot of fun meeting and getting to know them.

While we were talking to them some old friends of ours from Denver spotted us and ambled over to the table to say hi.  After we finished lunch we joined them at their table to munch on our chocolate cake dessert.  We ended up spending the next few hours reminiscing with them.  Me and the rest of the  girls.  Nice.

Back up to the room, then, to change for dinner.  Well, not right away.  We did get another nap in.  Well, I got another nap in.  Can’t speak for Chris on that one.  It was one of those dress up nights for dinner.  But this cruise isn’t like the other one we went one.  “Dress up” doesn’t necessarily mean suit and tie.  It’s more of, “don’t wear shorts and a tank top and sandals” kind of night.  I put my suit on anyway, but Chris said I didn’t need a tie.  Love that woman.  

We were asked when we arrived if we minded being seated with someone else.  That’s kind of the point on this cruise, so we jumped at the chance.  It was a rather large table, and we joined a Mom and her son from Katy, a couple from Algoa, and a final couple from ... drumroll here ... Jamaica Beach.   Kirk and Julie told us they had also had some brunch earlier in the day with someone from Sea Isle.  None other than Seasiders, Jim and Pat Eggler.  Old home week.  The group didn’t mind when I asked if I could pray, so we started out well.  All three of the other couples were rabid cruisers, so Chris and I did a lot of just listening.  I think everybody on this cruise is pretty into cruising regularly, in fact.  Oh well ... listen and learn, I guess.

After supper we roamed around the ship a bit.  We were too late for the comedy show.  Couldn’t find it, anyway.  I think to get to it you had to walk through the casino.  Not a fun experience, since the casino is the designated smoking area of the ship.  It’s hard for me to to even walk past the door without coughing.  No danger in this old dude losing all of our money at the one-armed bandits.  Do they still have one-armed bandits?  That’s what they call them in all the old movies ...

Isaiah 42:10 says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them.  Amen.

Father, thank you for our contact with a brand new Jamaica Beach neighbor and for our other new friends as well.  We are sure getting our fill of “down to the sea.”  I’m kind of ready to move on to the “you islands” part.  Amen.