My soul has a six pack by Becky

I had to entitle my blog with that line because that is the new found joke of our little trip so far! The other day while John, Angie and I were sitting on lounge chairs watching the kids as they dipped in the pool a man walked by carrying a six pack….and I don’t mean in a cooler. I then asked John where his six pack was and that’s when we came up with the line ‘my soul has a six pack’. Maybe you had to be there to enjoy or appreciate it but we all had a good chuckle!
I must say the time on the cruise so far with the Close family has been fun, exciting, exhausting, and life altering. I will only mention a few things as I know that J & A will be sharing stories as well. I first have to mention about the first few hours that we arrived on the ship. We were all so excited to begin our cruise but we were also quite tired (and overwhelmed) of the tour through the Vatican earlier that day and then the wonderful planes, trains and automobile ride to the port in Civitavecchia.

Our first experience of ‘cruisin’ was the fantastic dinner! I don’t think the kids have seen that much food and Ethan amazed me (actually all of us) at what he ordered. His eyes were definitely bigger than his stomach but he ate it all as we heard about it later. I also sat next to Alexa and after she was handed the menu from our waiter Francis, she leaned over and said, ‘Ummm…I can’t read.’ We all had a good chuckle but ever since then, she is still handed the menu. I guess that is so she still feels like she’s a big person.


Mainly I have to tell you about our little fire drill that the ship goes through so we know what Muster station to go to in an emergency. After our wonderful meal we went back to the cabin to rest our bodies and settle our stomachs but Angie and Alexa went somewhere else or couldn’t find our cabin so they didn’t join us. Soon the Director of the ship announced that we needed to get our life jackets that are provided in our cabins and since Angie and Alexa weren’t with us I brought two extra life jackets so I could pass them off….of course, that was under the assumption that they would find us at the Muster station. After a while, John and I were sort of getting worried because we weren’t sure what happened to them and so we stood with Maddie and Ethan amongst hundreds of people wearing our life jackets. By this time Ethan’s stomach started to get sore and proceeded to mention that he was suffering greatly. Now, I’m trying to set the stage here because John and I were sort of laughing (amongst the worry) at the whole situation because we can’t find his wife and child, his son is crying in agony at the meal that could be eaten for a King and to top it off Maddie starts commenting that it would be a practical time for the ship to sink since we already have our life jackets!! Ummm…ya, except for your mother and sister who are lost somewhere on the ship without theirs!! Let me remind you that this is within 24hrs of us hanging out together and we still have another 12 days or so to go! Wow…that was an eye opener. Haha Chaos at its finest! Thankfully Alexa was with Ang because she helped her find where our cabin was!

The other stories that stand out for me are two things…gambling and singing. Now, I can only speak for myself at this point and I’m not much of a gambler but I sort of understand the concept of the slot machine…or so I thought. Angie thought it would be a great idea to just ‘try’ the Casino experience on the ship and I was game (no pun intended) but we had to convince John a little. So, picture this if you will - 3 adults in their 30’s wanting to play some slot machines. Not much of an ordeal don’t you think? Ha! First I should say that the children were at Camp Carnival at the time and they wouldn’t be allowed in anyway but why would we want them to witness what we lived through. The three of us are walking around the Casino (which isn’t really big at all, probably about less than half the size of the church building but I probably shouldn’t compare it to a place of worship….but you know what I mean) like the blind leading the blind. We don’t know where to get the coins or tokens or whatever you use, we don’t know the difference between quarter slots and dollar slots, the black jack dealer who wasn’t busy at the time had to help us with how to USE the machines and finally we just wandered aimlessly about till we asked for help. I’m sure the dealer thought we have been living under a rock because we knew nothing about the whole Casino experience. I didn’t want to gamble much but it didn’t really matter cause I lost it all in about 3 min, Angie won some quarters and I was so excited and the first comment out of my mouth was, ‘hey, we could use that money for the laundry facilities they provide here!’ We were all so excited about that but then Angie lost all that money too. It was short but it sure wasn’t sweet.

As far as the singing goes….well, I’m not sure if all of you know that I had been on a cruise earlier this year but at that time I had the pleasure of experiencing the wonderful art of Karaoke! At that time I won a contest and had to sing on stage at the end of the trip. Now, the last trip I was on a cruise the guests were a little younger than they are on this trip, to the point that I would say easily less than 20% of the people here don’t have to put their teeth in a cup at night! The atmosphere is a little different but John, Angie and I wanted to do some singing or rather, they wanted to see me sing and shake a bon-bon like I did on the last cruise. I have stepped up to the plate to sing a couple times and even tried out for the Karaoke contest but thankfully didn’t win. I will say though….if I hear Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ one more time I might pull my hair out. Actually, I think Angie and I could do a wonderful duet on that one.
Oh yes and Angie has been trying to teach me some pick up lines that I should use to try to find that ‘special someone on the trip’, you know, to make it more exciting! Not only is the selection quite slim (and ew!) but her opening line will have me drunk the whole time and they’ll have to carry me out of here heading straight to a detox facility.
No wait, one more story…..it’s just too cute. We were sitting at the dinner table the other night and I asked John if his meal was ‘mouth-watering good’ and a few minutes Alexa thought she would ask the same thing but it came out like this: ‘Hey dad, is your steak ‘watermouth’ good?’ Too cute!
Overall, it has been lots of fun and we are enjoying each day more and more. The sites are fantastic and at times overpowering with all that there is to take in what with the culture, sites, sounds, language and smells. Hanging with the Close family has been great and the kids are doing so well. It’s also physically taxing sometimes on the 3.5+ hours of walking so I think the kids are doing fantastic. I don’t think I’ve heard them complain once about having sore feet (that’s more me) or being tired or bored….they are just amazing. It’s been a trip of a life time and I’m thankful and blessed to experience it before I have to put my teeth in a cup.

Becky Hammond