We have just returned from a suspenseful cruise to the Western Caribbean. This was our third cruise ever as I have managed to carefully space them out. I figure that once every five years is more than adequate. The Blonde in the house does not necessarily agree with this schedule, but so far so good! It is my thought that one cannot be too careful on the high seas. I do always check things though. As an example, when we arrived on board the ship at the port of Fort Lauderdale, I checked immediately to see how many cannons they had on board – to keep the Caribbean Pirates at bay.
Imagine my shock when I found out that they did not have any! It certainly made for a tense voyage. Luckily, I had brought my Horatio Hornblower telescope so I could help keep watch. I will have to admit that we did not see any Pirates. That is not to say that we didn’t see some strange people though. We did plow right through that Caribbean with seemingly the only thing that we had to worry about was the zika bearing mosquito. The skeeters apparently love the Caribbean as well as anybody else. We did not hear of anyone coming down with the disease. Nevertheless, as you will see, there was still danger ahead!
It is well known among family and other circles that I am not the world’s greatest advocate of cruising. As a matter of fact, if someone had told me a few months ago that I had two choices, and I needed to make up my mind on one of them. One choice would have been to walk over red hot coals and the other was to take a Caribbean cruise. I would have thought long and hard. I mean, how hard can it be to walk over red hot coals – you see it on you tube all the time. However, The Blonde in the house had her little heart set on a cruise. It was, I was told, for our anniversary and friends would be going with us. Since it is also well known that I am one of the world’s best kindly husbands, I agreed. However, I have found that every good deed has a counter action.
It reminded me of the time a few years ago when I opened my garage to head for my tee time, and saw a young lady I had never seen before pushing two large suitcases down The Villages street. She had a young boy with her who could not have been more than four. He was trying to push a suitcase that was about as big as he was. I asked where they were going and was told that they were headed to the Catholic Church. The church was about 5 miles away, and it was July. I knew that there was no way they were going to make it, so I told her that I would take them. (She was leaving her husband, so you know). I got them and their luggage in the car. I determined that if I got them to the church on time, I could still make my tee time. I backed smartly out of the garage forgetting that a big pickup had been parked at the left end of our driveway. Naturally I clunked into it. It put a dent in the pickup and an even bigger one in my trunk. I did get them to the church. I did not make my tee time, and instead spent time at the repair shop.
Now you may be wondering how the above relates to the above mentioned cruise. Well, as I mentioned I did my good deed by signing on for a long seven day cruise. The cruise ship itself was nice, and the service and entertainment was excellent. However, on the fifth day the good deed counter reaction started. I came down with one of the cruise ship’s maladies. The next day the other husband came down with a similar malady. Of course, neither The Blonde nor the other spouse were affected at all. We made it home where whatever the cruise ship gods gave us got worse. Just like my other good deed above, I missed golf, and in this case not once but twice. So did our friend.
The next time, I am going to give greater thought to walking over hot coals!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com
