Pre Cruise Musings

Family is coming, lots of family, lots of beloved family. Trips to the airport is a joy picking up family, not so much so sending family back to their lives. Jerry reminded me that in three weeks the Jean's 75 Birthday Alaskan Family Rolling Cruise Circus will be over.

However, for now it is full blown pre-cruise activity. Bathroom scrubbed. Wardrobe palette complete. Itinerary set. Bills paid. Grandson lined up. Taxis and bedrooms reserved. Hair cut. Side excursions pondered. New restaurants to share. Flower house to show off. Van rented. Dusting, dusting -- Dusting? Who said anything about dusting?

Be warned -- I'll pick you up at the airport, I'll drive you to the cruise ship, I'll mix you a scotch and water, I'll even paint your toenails, but I am not, will not dust. When you come to The Inn at Mukilteo you will become intimate with Jan's personal dust. It is nice dust. How does the saying go, "My house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy." Be warned.

While Amber is in Seattle for her first Pacific Northwest visit does she want to see the Big Wheel, the Space Needle, the Troll under the bridge? Does she want to climb a mountain, go through the Monkey Caves, walk to the Ice Caves, kayak on Lake Union, eat at Spud's, drive Chuckanut Drive, ride the Ducks, admire Connor, or all of the above? It seems she has five little pockets of time twixt all the other this and thats, and the cruise of course.

Jerry and Jane were buying some new long sleeve shirts for the coolish Alaskan weather and mentioned, out loud, that they were getting ready for a cruise. A couple standing close by said they were getting ready for a cruise, "where are you going?"
Alaska.
Well so are we, "when are you going?"
September 6th.
"Well so are we." 
Isn't the world amazing, from a department store in Oklahoma to the shores of Seattle. What a fascinating interesting world we live in.

I have one minimal desire. I would love to get a peek at the aurora borealis.

I have seen some powerful images in my life. A lone working cowboy riding a horse down out of some hills in Wyoming just like he was riding out of the past -- at sunset.

I saw a massive tree felled in the forest. It was such a stunning sight that I didn't even feel bad for the tree, just elated that I got to see it happen. That image is with me still. The tremor, the slow topple, the sudden sight and sound of the crash, it all was thrilling.

Whales. You can't beat a thrilling experience like seeing whales gliding, roaming, coursing through the Puget Sound. Waiting for them is some of the best waits I have ever had. It takes patience to wait for whales.

A log boom, also on the Puget Sound, actually two log booms slowly meandering past my look out from high above. At all of these experiences I was an accidental spectator. I couldn't conjurer them, but I had a sensitivity of deep appreciation of each image as it was presented to my wondering eye. Those images didn't go un-noticed.

Now my eye is prepared to see some magical Alaskan image as it is presented to me. I know not what it will be or where it will be, but I do know it is coming. I am prepared to be amazed by the infinitesimally small or the magnificent.

Yes my preparations are just about done, the physical, the emotional, the spiritual. I am willing to be amazed.

These are tenets that I try to apply to my everyday sort of life, the miracle of living, the power of life, to appreciate the stunning sights and sounds that abound all about every day, but, sadly, I fail more often than not. I see people, and irony, and joy, but often miss the deeper essence. From Michelangelo's Pieta to battleships to the I-5 corridor to the hummingbirds out my back window, isn't it all a miracle? Hum, the deeper, spiritual essence of the I-5 corridor I'll have to ponder that a minute. Well, it is teaming with life, certainly it is as interesting as a hive of bees, they are a miracle. It is a type of culmination of engineering and human's fascination with road trips. A human equivalent of whale pods traversing their sea-ways to feeding and mating grounds, and don't we all need that.

I read; "What if the goal of life is to create yourself a soul?" Jorodowsky. That's a ponder-able thought.

I didn't give a bum a dollar the other day and now I feel bad. Why didn't I? I will usually give a buck or a cigarette. Ponder-able?

I said to Connor, "Isn't it amazing you are going to start school."
He looked at me blankly and asked, "Why?'
"Well, because you are going to kindergarten, you are going to learn to read, you will be going to real school."
He looked at me blankly and asked, "Do I go to fake school now?"
Ponder-able.
Granny had a hard time back peddling her way out of that.
Actually, I don't think I did.

A cruise SOS: I have lost my purple sequin top, the one Bo made dress-for-dinner pants to wear with, the one to wear with my red shoes. Lost, as in I have no idea where it could have gone to. I've checked closets, bags, shelves, underwear drawer, freezer, pantry, everywhere I can think of and it is just gone.

Beats me where it is, maybe it's with my missing dust rag.

"In life if something comes we say Yes, Yes.
In life if something goes we need to also say Yes, Yes." Jorodowsky again. Ponder-able.

I'm ready for Jean's 75 Birthday Alaskan Family Rolling Cruise Circus. Family is coming and ain't I glad.

One last quote before I go: "What is to give light, must endure burning." Viktor Frankl.
Ponder-able.

Did I mention I got Mermaid Blue toenails to match my ocean going excursion?
Not ponder-able.