Oct. 13: “You know what I like about this trip,
Mom? I’m not even homesick. This trip is it. This trip is home. I sure slept good.”
When he was showering, he
told his dad, “I’m happy to be up.”
*
“This is the best vacation I’ve ever been on. I’m grateful we’ve got 14 days.”
*
“Don’t worry about my shoes. I found them.”
*
“Know what I like about this dining room,
Mom. It’s got windows. I don’t miss a thing.”
Oct. 14. “I
love getting up this early. It’s only
7. And our time, it’s 5,” Ed exclaims,
still excited. (He’s the guy who hates
to get up before 8.”
*
Oct. 14 - Jeff Tracta was the entertainer at the 8
and 10 pm shows.
He was Thorne on CBS’s The Bold and the Beautiful. Danny
in Broadway’s production of Grease,
and now starring in his award winning Vegas show of Comedy, impressions and
singing. He was magnificent. We bought his CD. There was a crowd at the table. “Jeff.
Jeff,” Ed calls, “I enjoyed your show.”
Jeff leans over and pats Ed’s hand.
“You made me laugh,” Ed tells him.
Everyone laughed joyfully. “You
made us all laugh.” The theme of his
impressionistic show was “It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you make
someone happy.”
*
Everyone knows how Ed covers his ears when he
hears anyone singing “Happy Birthday”. He
doesn’t mind at all in the Bali language.
The waiters bang on a pan, clap and sing garblygoop to our ears. "What did you sing," I asked Agus. “We wish you all the best--all the time,” in
the Bali language.
“I love it,” I told him.
“So do I,” Ed exclaimed.
*
Thursday: “You know something, Mom, I’m proud of you for doing yoga.” I could hear nothing on my iPod the last week so I couldn't do yoga (or listen to my beloved books on tape). We got wondering if the problem might be the earphones so I tried both sides. What? I've missed my yoga for no good reason all these days? How did I get the bad side in my good ear and the good side in my bad ear every single time? Holy Moly.
*
“You know that piece you just played?”
Ed goes up to the Adagio String players, who are from the Ukraine.
“Tchaikovsky?” one
asks.
“I have it.”
“You have it? Do you like it?”
“NOPE.”
“There’s only one bathroom,” Ed
complains. “There’s hundreds of
bathrooms on this ship,” I remind him.
“Use them,” he retorts.
*
We were talking about the flamboyant
cruise director who seems to be everywhere and doing everything all the
time. Does he ever sleep?
“You mean the one I talked to last
night?” Ed joins in.
“What did you say to him?”
“I told him I was enjoying the
cruise.”
DeRay forgot what we were talking
about and ask who? “The cruise
director,” I remind him.
“Anthony,” Ed clarifies. He knows all their names. At that time, we didn’t have the slightest
clue what his name was.
Thursday Oct 18. Ed heard me say Good Morning to Madi as I
came into the room. “I hate it when
you’re friendly,” he scolds. (Oh yaw, do you see me going around hugging everybody?)
*
Saturday: “Without fuss,” I lecture Ed, “when we get through
with breakfast, we’re going to the gym.”
“Don’t mention it; even for ½ hour.”
“Oh, we’re not going for just ½ hour, we’re going
for an hour today.”
 |
| I don't know if Jerry spent all day in the gym but he was there every time we showed up. |
For our reward after machines and weights, we walk
out front on Deck 11 and watch the dolphins.
In my next life, I’m going to be a dolphin, I decide; they are so
playful. We’ve lost DeRay. He went to digital class after breakfast and
we haven’t seen him since. We definitely
won’t find him in the gym. No sir.
“I sure love the weight room, Mom," Ed admitted. "I love this ocean.”
He also loves the chilled soups they serve at
every meal. No coaxing there.
*
Saturday Oct 19 “So, you don’t want to dance
tonight,” I say to Ed. “I thought you
liked to dance.”
“Not with my own mother,” he explains, “that’s
cheating.”
*
Sunday Oct 20
“I hate to get up before eight, day after day after day after day,” Ed
says. The dining room is open between
8-9:30. Not a big window. As he’s getting dressed, he chats: “I agree with Anthony, Mom. Cruises are fun, except for getting up
early. You have no courtesy when you
wake me up before 8.”
*
“I’ll bet our Ward misses me. I’ll bet they’re wondering where I am.”
“You told everyone. Why would they have to wonder,” I remind him.
*
In the dining room every night there was a
Cackling Woman at the table behind us.
Don’t people know when they laugh obnoxiously loud? Every night I complain, “I don’t know if I
can stand it one more minute.”
“Tune her out.
Geez,” Ed admonished.
Puerto Vallarta. We’re just getting up at 8. “Good Morning,” I say cheerily.
“I wish you wouldn’t bring that up,” Ed
growls.
*
“You’re not going to believe this, Mom. We don’t dock again until San Diego.”
“We do too.
We stop at Cabo.”
“No. No. No.
We don’t dock there. We anchor
there.”
“Oh.”
*
Thursday “Last Day at Sea,” Ed exclaims. ”You know
something, Mom, it’s been a good trip.
Now I got to see the Panama Canal. It was sure neat.”
*
I walked two miles on deck 6 with pause to take
pictures of the sunset. 
Formal
night. Ed still loves to dress up, his favorite night.
He's starting to talk about how good it will
feel to get home.
*
“OK, now remember your manners,” I
caution Ed on our way to the Mariner Society Brunch hosted by Captain Albert
Jan Schoonderbeek.
“You sure know how to put me down on
the last day at sea,” he retaliates.
The bottom of the invitation read, “In our
effort to keep everyone healthy, the ship’s officers will refrain from shaking
hands.”
That was OK with Ed. He's a hugger, not a handshaker.
 |
| Captain Albert Jan Schoonderbeek from Holland, and Hotel Director Bart Groeneveld. |
He was
the most personable and hands-on captain I’ve seen. His sense of humor was a
delight: "This is your captain speaking.". I don’t know what Ed said to
him, he talked to him after I did, but when we got back to the cabin, he
lamented that he forgot to tell the Captain he enjoyed the Panama Canal.
On the last night, Ed couldn’t wait to get up to
Adagios. DeRay and I were playing Whirly
Word. I finally told him to go on up on
his own and we'd come in a minute. “Hallaleujah!” he exclaimed as
he fled out the door. He had to give
his friend one last hug.
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