Tablemates
Francis and Ilene: Francis is a retired military man and Ilene retired from Wells Fargo Bank. They live in Rapid City, South Dakota and have 2 sons and 1 daughter. Francis turned 70 on this cruise and it was a difficult day for him, but he truly doesn’t look or act 70 years old. He’s very jolly; talks with his hands, laughs a lot, and always has a story. He and Ilene participated for four months in the sports program onboard where passengers earn “Dam Dollars” which they can redeem for merchandise. He always had a tale to tell about that. Francis is also an avid bridge player and he played many days for 4 to 5 hours. He hates getting dressed up and many formal night dinners were spent without Francis and Ilene.
Ilene is 65 and is a sweetheart. She always has a smile on her face. She loves the arts and crafts classes and many nights came to dinner wearing the jewelry she made that day. She’s a 15-year breast cancer survivor and enjoys life to the fullest.
Charles and Cynthia: Charles is also a retired military man. Cynthia worked for an insurance company. They live in Tampa, Florida and raised two daughters. They met in England where Charles was stationed. Cynthia was born and raised in Oxford, England and still has a charming accent. She’s the talker in the family; Charles just kind of tags along. This was their very first cruise of this type and it was fun to watch them acclimate to shipboard life. Cynthia had a heart attack recently but she could run circles around all of us. She is interested in everything and has an infectious laugh. Charles can be a bit negative but she just laughs it off. They have some very interesting stories about their travels.
Velma and Cathy: Velma is 75 years old and also lives in Rapid City, South Dakota. She and her sister, Cathy, who lives in Pueblo, Colorado, were traveling together. They requested our table because they wanted to sit with Francis and Ilene, who are also from “Rapid”, as they call it. Velma just completed her 14th World Cruise. She was married to a dermatologist who, before he passed away and left her lots of money, told her to spend it on travel. She’s a little stocky lady with a white Buster Brown haircut. She was very quiet, but with Ed, Francis and Cynthia it was never easy to get a word in anyway. I think Velma developed quite a crush on Ed. He could make her laugh and when she did it was a wonderful thing to see. She reminded me quite a lot of my Aunt Jet, who passed away in 1990, and by the end of the cruise I was quite fond of her. She and Cathy left the ship in New York to spend a few days there.
Cathy is 80 years old and is also very quiet. She’s a widow with one son who lives Fiji and he and his wife flew to Sydney to see her and Velma and had dinner at our table. Unfortunately we didn’t get to meet him as we were off the ship that night but Cathy’s face lit up when she talked about him. Cathy loved going to afternoon tea and she usually left the dinner table right after finishing her entrée, saying she had had dessert at tea that afternoon. I think she really left early because she wanted to be able to get the first row in the balcony for the show every night. She was a lover of beautiful music and many times she was the only person in the Explorers Lounge listening to the piano player and violinist play into the night.
The Final Blog Entry
This is it! Our last day. I have very mixed emotions today. On Thursday in New York, 400 people left the ship and went home, including our friends Pete and Sharon, Debra, and Bill and Debbie. Four hundred people took their places and since then nothing has been the same. Thursday evening I was feeling a lot of resentment toward these new people; they were excited about starting their 3 week cruise to Vancouver and we were depressed about our cruise being almost over. Soon “my” ship would be theirs and I was feeling very possessive. In talking to others on Friday I was relieved to discover that I wasn’t the only one feeling this way. But as the day progressed I felt more even keeled and we had a very nice evening; a gathering of people to share our leftover wine and champagne and our very last “Name that Tune” with Buddy in the Rembrandt Lounge. So tonight we’ll have some more goodbyes, probably some more tears, but we’ll set our sights on Cincinnati and the joy of seeing our family and friends again. The Dream is over, its time to wake up!!
Francis and Ilene: Francis is a retired military man and Ilene retired from Wells Fargo Bank. They live in Rapid City, South Dakota and have 2 sons and 1 daughter. Francis turned 70 on this cruise and it was a difficult day for him, but he truly doesn’t look or act 70 years old. He’s very jolly; talks with his hands, laughs a lot, and always has a story. He and Ilene participated for four months in the sports program onboard where passengers earn “Dam Dollars” which they can redeem for merchandise. He always had a tale to tell about that. Francis is also an avid bridge player and he played many days for 4 to 5 hours. He hates getting dressed up and many formal night dinners were spent without Francis and Ilene.
Ilene is 65 and is a sweetheart. She always has a smile on her face. She loves the arts and crafts classes and many nights came to dinner wearing the jewelry she made that day. She’s a 15-year breast cancer survivor and enjoys life to the fullest.
Charles and Cynthia: Charles is also a retired military man. Cynthia worked for an insurance company. They live in Tampa, Florida and raised two daughters. They met in England where Charles was stationed. Cynthia was born and raised in Oxford, England and still has a charming accent. She’s the talker in the family; Charles just kind of tags along. This was their very first cruise of this type and it was fun to watch them acclimate to shipboard life. Cynthia had a heart attack recently but she could run circles around all of us. She is interested in everything and has an infectious laugh. Charles can be a bit negative but she just laughs it off. They have some very interesting stories about their travels.
Velma and Cathy: Velma is 75 years old and also lives in Rapid City, South Dakota. She and her sister, Cathy, who lives in Pueblo, Colorado, were traveling together. They requested our table because they wanted to sit with Francis and Ilene, who are also from “Rapid”, as they call it. Velma just completed her 14th World Cruise. She was married to a dermatologist who, before he passed away and left her lots of money, told her to spend it on travel. She’s a little stocky lady with a white Buster Brown haircut. She was very quiet, but with Ed, Francis and Cynthia it was never easy to get a word in anyway. I think Velma developed quite a crush on Ed. He could make her laugh and when she did it was a wonderful thing to see. She reminded me quite a lot of my Aunt Jet, who passed away in 1990, and by the end of the cruise I was quite fond of her. She and Cathy left the ship in New York to spend a few days there.
Cathy is 80 years old and is also very quiet. She’s a widow with one son who lives Fiji and he and his wife flew to Sydney to see her and Velma and had dinner at our table. Unfortunately we didn’t get to meet him as we were off the ship that night but Cathy’s face lit up when she talked about him. Cathy loved going to afternoon tea and she usually left the dinner table right after finishing her entrée, saying she had had dessert at tea that afternoon. I think she really left early because she wanted to be able to get the first row in the balcony for the show every night. She was a lover of beautiful music and many times she was the only person in the Explorers Lounge listening to the piano player and violinist play into the night.
The Final Blog Entry
This is it! Our last day. I have very mixed emotions today. On Thursday in New York, 400 people left the ship and went home, including our friends Pete and Sharon, Debra, and Bill and Debbie. Four hundred people took their places and since then nothing has been the same. Thursday evening I was feeling a lot of resentment toward these new people; they were excited about starting their 3 week cruise to Vancouver and we were depressed about our cruise being almost over. Soon “my” ship would be theirs and I was feeling very possessive. In talking to others on Friday I was relieved to discover that I wasn’t the only one feeling this way. But as the day progressed I felt more even keeled and we had a very nice evening; a gathering of people to share our leftover wine and champagne and our very last “Name that Tune” with Buddy in the Rembrandt Lounge. So tonight we’ll have some more goodbyes, probably some more tears, but we’ll set our sights on Cincinnati and the joy of seeing our family and friends again. The Dream is over, its time to wake up!!
No comments:
Post a Comment