The Last Chapter: Memories from the Boat (Part 3)

I give you this last chapter not because it was the least important of my memories from the boat, but because I was trying to go in succession. This chronicles some of my favorite memories from the last portion of the week:

Stephanie and Aaron -
So, after sitting by ourselves at dinner the first two nights on the cruise, we decided to ask the Matre D if it was possible to switch tables. I mean, we like each other and all, but there’s only so much we can take of JUST EACH OTHER.

After dinner on the second night, we went over to the Matre D, made our request and he searched through the computer to find a suitable table. He tells us to come to dinner 15 minutes late the next night and he’ll take us to our new table. FLIPPIN SWEET!!

So we get to dinner the next night and he takes us to a table with a lovely young couple sitting at it. It’s again, a huge table for just the five of us, but we didn’t care. So we pretty much bombard them with questions, tell them all our stories thus far (and they were nice enough to listen). Keep in mind, there’s now four girls and a guy at this table. Poor fella!! Didn’t get to talk much, but when he did, he was awful funny!!

Anyway, the couple is Stephanie and Aaron. They are farmers from South Dakota on vacation. They have two lovely boys and are two of the coolest people we met on the boat. I think they might have been a little afraid of us the first night, but by the end of the trip, we had become pretty tight. The last two nights we even got them out to the Club and Aaron actually danced!! Stephanie dedicated "Little Willy" to us Boston girls and we danced like freaks to a song we’d never heard. Didn’t matter, it was a blast.

At dinner, Stephanie and I realized we had a similar interest in drinking tea and decided to hit "Tea Time" on the second to last day of the cruise. We’re talking away about stuff and the lady carting around the little tarts and cookies went to put one on my plate, only to have the tini mandarin orange plop into my tea!! Poor thing!! She was so embarrassed!! Stephanie and I just laughed.

It was scary to see how much Stephanie and I had in common. (Both no-nonsense, strong, independent, but respectful ladies who work hard, but love to have a good time. She’s also a big sports fan, with a dear love for the San Francisco Giants. She and Aaron are taking the boys to see eight games in June). By the end of the trip we were saying we were separated at birth!!

On the second to last night (last formal night) we met them in the lobby and took some pictures together. The next day, we ordered a whole bunch together.

In short, I could not have been happier with the way our dinner table situation turned out. We had such a great time with Stephanie and Aaron and hope the good times keep on coming. Take care of each other, and those boys!!

Harmless Tim -
How could we forget this guy? I didn’t actually meet Tim until a few hours after Jackie and Katie had. I think they were hanging out at the pool a little later than me and bumped into this guy Tim. Later that night while listening to the band on board (by the way, they were great!! Lead singer had an unbelievable ability to mold his voice into whoever he was singing i.e. Willie Nelson, Elvis, Beatles, etc. He was great), Tim came over to us and started gabbing about something. He introduced himself to me while bopping to the music and said the following:

"If you girls are interested in dancing, I’d love to dance with you. But I’m harmless. I really love to dance, but I’m harmless. There’s nothing more I like to do but dance and I love having a partner. But I’m harmless, etc."
The guy must have repeated "I’m harmless" like 50 times, which begged the question in my mind: Why would anyone have to repeatedly proclaim he was harmless if he was in fact, harmless? Food for thought people.

Of course, we politely decline his first offer and say we’ll come looking for him if we get the urge. Never did.
Later that week, Katie and I see the now-dubbed "Harmless Tim" at Medusa’s (the club) sitting with a group of men and women. After about 15 minutes, Harmless Tim heard a song that struck his fancy and he leapt up, put out his hand to one of the women at the table, and headed to the dance floor.

As Harmless Tim starts to cut a rug, our mouths drop as we see just how freakin’ good a dancer this guy is. He was bopping around that floor like he owned it, leading his lady every step of the way. I mean, he’s swinging her this way, twirling her that way. It was amazing!! We still didn’t want to dance with him…but not because we were still creeped out, but because he was too darn good!!

Later in the week, he boogied on down at the "Hairy-man Contest" at the pool. The judges liked his moves, but I guess he just wasn’t hairy enough. Next time, Harmless Tim. Next time.

Jenny and Tom -
So, being among the youngest people on the boat all week, we got our fair share of attention. Some of it was good, some bad, some welcomed, some unwelcomed. I think many of the elder people on the boat just couldn’t handle us. It’s not that we were doing anything wrong. We were just cute, loud, drunk girls who sauntered in and out of rooms and got a lot of attention because of it. It was really bad sometimes. We’d sit down at a bar and people would get up and leave. We kept asking ourselves, "Do we smell?" But we didn’t. We didn’t smell.
The problem wasn’t ours, it was theirs. As elders, they’re in a different time of their lives than us, of course, and most weren’t willing to revisit their youth by taking the time to open their mouths and talk to us, instead of snoot their noses up at us and assume we’re horrible people because we’re loud and like to drink.

That is, everyone except Jenny and Tom.

I met this lovely couple one night at the Lobby Bar after dinner when we were waiting to get into the club. I can’t quite remember how the conversation started, but before you knew it, my friends were trying to pull me away. We talked about a ton of stuff from family, the cities we live in, our friends, previous cruises, etc. Two of the nicest people I’ve ever met and they said the same about me!!

Long story short, they’re from San Francisco, which immediately prompted talk about my sister. They’ve been married more than 50 years, which prompted talks about my own grandparents. It was just so great to talk to them because I felt like I had broken through our younger vs. older encounters on the boat. Jenny and Tom actually took the time to talk to me and I think, no, I know, it was worth both our whiles.

I gave them my blog address because I told them I was going to write about them. Hopefully they didn’t get tired of scrolling through my blabber to get to the part about them. Take care Jenny and Tom. Nothing but the best to you both. Live and love.

Zsolt and Edyta -
To our fabulous waiter and waitress on board, Jackie, Katie and I thank you sincerely. Your service was impeccable, your humor a delight, and your professionalism a wonder. We will miss you…Actually, Jackie and I will miss you. Katie will miss her young, Urkranian obsession, Sergi. This baby-faced 22-year-old was our bar waiter at dinner and cocktail server at the club. Katie loved him and was never afraid to tell him. Poor thing would turn so red every time she summoned him. Too funny!!

Curtis and Co./Percy -
This is getting long, so I’m just going to finish up by saying these guys were some of the coolest we’d ever met. Curtis, his little brother Marcus, and his cousin Nathan were the epitome of cool. They were all from Miami, dressed nice, and were absolute gentlemen. We typically hung out with them every night at the club and they were a total blast. Glad we met them, although the sight of Curtis’ strange "Miami dance" still pains me. I still love him, though.

Percy was the comedian on board. We met him in the club the night before he performed because he’s a friend of DJ Shannon’s and we sat front row with Curtis, Stephanie, and Aaron for his show. He was really funny and should get his own special from HBO or something. Seriously!! No seriously.
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This concludes my memories from the boat section. The islands are to follow, starting with: St. Maarten. Hoping to have that blog for you on Thursday.