Vacation Imitates Life

“The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.” ~ Goethe

August 1, 2019

Last evening we were treated to the best entertainment we’ve ever encountered on a cruise ship. It was The Barricade Boys—a group of four very talented young men who have at different times been part of the cast of Les Miserables, either on Broadway in the US or London’s West End. Incredible voices, amazing showmanship, and a wonderful repertoire. The entire audience was on its feet before the last note died.

Fortunately, we’ll see them again on Friday as part of a variety show featuring all the visiting talent.

After the show last night, we made our way to the Queen’s Room, where the orchestra was tuning up for ballroom dancing. The ship’s company of dancers presented an ensemble Viennese waltz, which was lovely. Then the dance instructors performed a steamy Argentine Tango. After that, the onlookers were invited to dance.

The DH and I used to love to swing dance, but that involves a lot of spinning and dipping. With Backpack Herkimer in tow, that’s pretty difficult. We’d get hopelessly tangled up in my cannula. However, we have discovered that we can do the ballroom dances that remain “in hold” most of the time. We watched for a while, then after we did a passable slow waltz and a hysterical rumba, we called it a night.

This morning we surprised ourselves by sleeping in. It was almost eight before I rolled out of bed. We barely had time for breakfast before we had to scoot back to the Queen’s Room for Tango lessons—another dance we can do without breaking our “frame.” The ocean is not as placid as it has been, so occasionally, our steps were longer than we intended. Not because we moved, but because the ship had! Anyway, we now have the basics for three ballroom dances we can still do together.

It’s hard for me to put into words how that makes me feel. NSIP (non-specific interstitial pneumonitis) has taken a number of things from me, but it hasn’t taken this. I’m so grateful that I’m still able to dance with my husband. I’m thankful that he makes wearing Backpack Herkimer for me seem like a small thing, which I know it isn’t. It’s heavy and hot, but he never complains. 

He does, however, worry that I have enough battery life to get us where we’re going. (It must be hard to have a battery operated wife! Ha!) I kept an eye on it between sets and we left the class early when Herkimer’s 10 minute warning beep sounded. The Queen Mary 2 is such a big girl, it took us about that long to make it back to our stateroom. Backpack Herkimer breathed his last when our cabin door closed behind us.

We’re heading ever eastward, which means our clocks need to be adjusted as we pass into the next time zone. The other cruise lines we’ve sailed with add or deduct the time at midnight. On the Queen Mary 2, it happens at noon. One minute, it’s late morning, then suddenly, it’s 1:00 pm.

I'm not a fan of the practice. 

After lunch, we went to watercolor class again. Our inventive instructor has new projects to suggest every day.  

However, into each vacation a bit of real life must fall. An hour into the 1 ½ hour class, the DH had to excuse himself and head back to the cabin with a migraine. Now he’s resting in the darkened room. I’ll need to find a place in a common area to upload this post (The QM2 is the first ship we’ve cruised on where I can’t connect to the internet in my cabin.) Then I’ll drop by the Britannia Dining Room to let our excellent waiter Antonio know we won’t be coming down for supper.

That’s okay. We’ll order room service and declare a restful evening.

PS. So sorry there are no pictures. The wifi is so slow, my blogger program times out before it can retrieve a photo. As my Dad would say, "That's no way to run a railroad!"

PPS. August 24th--I was finally able to upload a few pictures while on the ship, but most of the images you see in these posts were added once we returned home. Here's the DH and I on a night when he was feeling better. Notice his red vest? He likes being color coordinated with me!