Christmas Musings
As our calendars keep reminding us around this time in December, Christmas is just around the corner – next week actually. Knowing that, it might just be time to sit back, sip a glass of wine and reflect on the holiday and muse upon its significance both historically and as a capstone for this year.
But I’d like to break with my blogging tradition and maybe pitch a gripe or two first, if I may? I’d like to air out a couple things that seem to come up this time of year that have been annoying me for quite a while. Let’s start with my particular take on the seemingly unending controversy between “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays.”
See, I probably alienated half of you just now. How DARE he denigrate the sacred saying “Merry Christmas?” you might say. And then you’ll bring up your religious views about what the holiday is all about and how I’m “diluting” the holiday with that “other” appellation. Taking away the “reason for the season” as it were.
Happy Holidays! Bah, humbug! See how evil that sounds?
Ok, Let’s stay calm and follow my reasoning in this matter.
I use the Merry Christmas greeting when I’m talking about the Christmas holiday. The 25th of December. I pretty much ALWAYS say that when I’m referring to that particular day. That’s the doggone name of the holiday for goodness sakes. It’s Christmas Day, so I say, and write, Merry Christmas. But when I say or write Happy Holidays, I’m referring to holidays PLURAL. Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years. I want you to have Happy Holidays. ALL of them. It’s a lot quicker and definitely more concise to say that than to wish you a Good Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. On each individual day I’ll greet you with the appropriate name, of course, but for ALL of them, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
See how simple that was?
Now, as we’re in the holiday mood, let’s also consider another mighty no-no I’ve been known to say or write. The dreaded Merry Xmas.
Oh Lord, is he going there? It he using that nasty secular-sounding Xmas? What a creep he is!
Well, here’s the scoop amigos. When I sit down and write my Christmas cards I have been known to write Merry Christmas in them. And after writing a dozen cards or so, my hand starts to cramp a bit, so I abbreviate it to Merry Xmas. Simple as that. No offense intended. No harm, no foul. And don’t tell me you don’t, in your head, substitute Christmas for Xmas anyhow.
To be honest, I really don’t worry too much these days about whether you’re happy with my abbreviations or not. I find that, especially in these contentious times, that what I believe (about many things) or what I think about those many things will please about half my friends and family and alienate the other half. And, to be honest again, I have attained the ripe old age where your opinion of me or what I think generally is immaterial.
“What you see is what you get,” says this crusty ol’ varmint.
So, if you will allow me again, some history about that little “X”. I paraphrase a bit from a generally accepted as factual site on the Internet:
“The word “Christmas” comes from the Old English word “Cristes maesse” or “Christ’s mass” which was written to form one word starting in the 14th century. It was derived from the Greek word “Christos” (Christ) and the Latin word “missa” (mass).
The word “Xmas,” on the other hand, is used as an abbreviation of the word “Christmas.” The letter “X” comes from the Greek letter “chi,” the first letter in the Greek word for “Christ,” and “maesse” from the Old English word for “mass.” The word is considered as an informal form of the word “Christmas. It has been in use since the year 1100 written as “Xpes maesse.” It evolved into the word “Xmas” during the middle of the 18th century.”
There. See? Just an abbreviation and definitely not irreligious.
At least I hope not…
So now that I’m done venting a bit, let’s go on, shall we?
I generally like to divide my year into chunks and like to count a couple dates as milestones for that particular year to delineate those chunks. Christmas is one of them. (If you’re interested, summer vacation is the other one) I usually consider Christmas as the end point of the present year, or close enough, and anything after that is part of the following one. And it is also a good time to think back on the previous 12 months and to check the score on, to use a sports analogy, the wins and losses. Then you can add up all those pluses and minuses and decide whether you’d call it a good year or not. But to cheat a bit, the best part these days, being of a certain age and retired, is that any year where you remained above ground and breathing has to be considered a good one! And, knock on wood, I am still taking in the good air. But you also should take notice of the speed bumps you’ve encountered along the way. That worrisome but minor ailment that doesn’t seem to want to go away. The time you had a chance to do some good for someone and for some inconsequential (or stupid) reason you didn’t. The old friend you didn’t call when you knew you should have. The days that slipped away in which you just did nothing.
The good and the bad.
I sincerely believe that there is a balance sheet out there somewhere where your missteps are tallied up and weighed against the times when you did do the right thing and you did take advantage of the days you were given.
I have a sticky note tacked to my computer screen with a motto on it that says “Did Today Matter?” I try to read it every day. I try to follow its message. I could add this to it: “Is my balance sheet entry for today on the plus side? Or not?”
Sorry for all the heavy thoughts on a Christmas blog. I have written happier pieces on previous Christmases as some of my faithful readers may remember and I surely hope this one will be counted as one of the better ones. Our family’s health is good and our holiday traditions are still strong. We celebrate the holidays with good cheer and still enjoy decorating our house with festive items. My wife still bakes the traditional Christmas cookies and yummy candies and shares them with select friends and family. We cherish our evenings around the fire (ok, the TV screen – ya got me) and we enjoy getting together with old and new friends and with our loving family.
So gentle readers, please join me when we lift a cup of good cheer on this upcoming Christmas, use the mistletoe to give our spouses and significant others a kiss and gaze once again at our lighted Christmas trees with the trusting eyes of children.
And maybe, before bed this Christmas Eve, I’ll step outside my front door for a minute and listen closely for the muted sounds of tiny raindeer hooves on our rooftop and maybe hear a quiet ho-ho-ho from the region of our chimney.
So Merry Christmas to all and may we all strive for days that matter.
On His Keister
About two weeks ago I was taking a walk and that’s where this story begins. It’s not as if taking this walk was something unusual. I try to take the dog for a walk every morning. In fact, our dog Trixi insists on it! She likes, as most dogs do, continuity, routine, things that she can count on. She likes her days to start just so and to continue as they are supposed to, at least supposed to in her own mind.
This is how the day should start, at least according to her:
Dad gets up first and lets the dog out of her crate where she has spent her night. She jumps onto mom and dad’s bed where she curls up and goes back to sleep for a while. Dad goes and takes his shower, then returns to the bedroom where he dresses under the now watchful eye of his furry friend. Then, when dad had brushed his teeth and put on his glasses, she knows it’s time for her to accompany him downstairs. She gets her yummy dog food breakfast while dad takes his meds for the day. Then it’s suddenly the BEST time of the day – walk time! Dad hooks her up to her leash, puts on whatever coat is necessary for the temperature outside and away they go!
This routine is what she considers “normal” and what she expects. Dad likes it most days too. It’s a chance to see what the day looks like outside, to get the exercise his old bones and muscles require and to also exercise the dog and let her do her business. Occasionally, when the weather is miserable outside with snow and ice or storms may be pelting down rain, the routine is broken and the dog has to go outside on her chain to take care of her business. She will comply if this is what dad insists on, but will keep one eye on him the rest of the day to see if he just might be tempted to take that missing walk a bit later.
Sometime it happens, too.
This particular day that I’m talking about was a beauty. It was one of those late fall days around here that were warmer than normal, sunnier than normal and the wind was gentler than normal. It was a day to put in a bottle and to uncork on a nasty day in February. A nice day to be alive and a damn good dog-walking day.
So my furry bud and I are making our way along the route we normally take, once around the school that sits in the block north of where we live, and things are going fine. She’s happily sniffing all the great smells along the sidewalk and anointing about every third one with a dose of her own odoriferous comments. All things are going swimmingly and the walk is about halfway done when the unexpected occurred.
I fell.
It’s still a mystery exactly why I took a header on the sidewalk that perfect day. Perhaps I stepped on a piece of wood that had been knocked off a nearby tree during the windstorm of the previous night. Perhaps I was gazing at something in the distance and not paying attention to where my feet were. Or I was woolgathering as I occasionally do. Or, more than likely, the dog had done a zig when I was expecting a zag. In any event, whatever was the causative agent, all at once I was on the ground.
Kaboom!
Thinking back, it was quite odd in a way. One moment I was marching along, doing normal stuff, the next I was nose to nose with the sidewalk. It was almost a bit mystical, actually, as the act of falling was so quick it was as if I transitioned from upright to “on my keister” instantaneously.
It took a second or two for my shocked brain to realize what had happened. My eyes saw the world from basically the dog’s point of view, from a foot or so above the sidewalk, and believe me when I say it looks quite different from that angle. I marveled at the strange position I found myself in, observing the pebbles embedded in the concrete just beyond my nose, the colorful oak and maple leaves dotting the ground and the other small things laying around I’d never given much thought to. Then, pragmatically, I wondered how badly I might be injured. I wiggled what would wiggle and took stock of any ouchies that might have not been evident before I took the header. I was a little sore on my knees and my left hand. Nothing seemed major and nothing seemed broken. As I took in the world from my new viewpoint, I saw a moist black nose approach my face and suddenly there was Trixi in front of me. She was obviously wondering why the hell was her master down on the ground and was this some sort of new and wonderful game he had devised. After a second or two she gave up on my odd behavior and wandered off to the limit of the leash to again sniff out a probable squirrel scent that needed neutralized.
Her master’s predicament had totally left her mind.
A boy who had been walking across the street from me hurried over and asked if I was all right. Two cars then stopped and windows were rolled down by inquisitive folks who also asked if I was OK.
Good question, I thought.
After again taking stock of my situation, I slowly stood up and answered that I was OK. The man who had crossed the street looked me over for a moment before acknowledging my response, nodded and again crossed the street and continued onward. The two cars then also left and went on their way.
I brushed the dirt and leaves off my clothes, then the dog and I slowly walked the rest of the way home.
After settling in my favorite chair I pulled up the sweatpants I had been wearing and examined my injuries. My left knee had some blossoming bruises and the right knee had a good silver dollar patch of skin missing. I checked further and saw another bruise forming on my left hand where I had apparently tried to check my fall. I cleaned up the angry-looking right knee, put some antibacterial ointment on it and a big Band-Aid to cover the wound.
I leaned back and took a moment to reflect.
First off, I was thankful that I hadn’t hurt myself worse. If I were 10 years old and had taken a tumble like that I probably wouldn’t have given it much thought. Kids fall as a matter of course, it’s a right of passage of childhood, and 99 times out of a hundred are just fine. Wounds scab over, mamma kisses the boo-boo, puts a Band-Aid on them, they heal up and life goes on. But I was WAY over the age of 10, mamma would NOT be kissing this boo-boo and I’d known of folks just my age who fell that were never the same again.
Next I thought of the people who witnessed my fall and who were concerned enough to check on my welfare. Was this because I live in a smaller town where that may be the accepted mode of behavior? Or was I lucky enough to take my header in front of the few people in town that might just have given a damn.
The answer to that I probably will never know.
Then, when it was time to take the mutt out the next morning, I took a moment to think. Should I? Or should I take some time off to figuratively if not actually “lick my wounds?” Should I take the accident the previous day as an omen of worse to come? But then I looked at the eager brown eyes of my dog and saw her joy at living at that particular time of day when dad and her would take their walk. And even though the weather had turned during the night and it was much colder with a misty rain falling, I bundled up and took her out.
She was happy and I was able to “get back in the saddle” so to speak and do my daily due diligence for the dog.
And what did I learn from this minor catastrophe?
To pay a little more attention to what I was doing when I was out walking. That was obvious. To walk a bit slower, especially in areas where the sidewalk might be a little broken and where debris might be laying in front of my feet. That too.
But most of all to enjoy your time out with the dog, breathing the fresh air and savoring the change of the seasons. To relish the way your muscles and brain still work in tandem and to remember the many, many miles you have walked the same path uneventfully. Sadly, many of your friends would find that which you do daily as extremely difficult or even impossible to accomplish.
And to enjoy being the lucky son of a gun that you are…
A Soggy Sojourn in the Smokies
Where to go, where to go, where to go was the mantra my wife and I were singing a month or two ago. Should we go to the beach again for our fall getaway? How about going to a big city like New York or Montreal? They both sounded intriguing. Or perhaps we could take another swing down south? That sounded like fun too. So what shall we do?
We eventually mentioned our quandary to some friends and they suggested, “Why don’t you guys try going to the Smoky Mountains? You can rent a cabin and go back to your roots!” They had done that very thing a few times in the past and really enjoyed it.
Judy and I gave the idea some serious thought. We’d never really booked a cabin in the woods before. Well, we had, but it was a bare-bones place a long time ago back when our son was little and it wasn’t a whole lot better than the tents we had used for camping up to that point. But this cabin would be different. This one had a full kitchen, whirlpool bath, hot tub, king bed, big-screen TV and other various nicer accoutrements. It would be more like a higher-end hotel room but rustic and in the mountains.
It sounded very interesting.
We used a booking agent that our friends had used in the past and soon we were the “owners” (for four nights at least) of a neat lil’ cabin in the woods! It was situated about five miles outside Pigeon Forge Tennessee. To further identify all of this booking agency’s cabins, they all had a name.
Our cabin was “Call of the Wild”. Pretty cool, eh?
I’d been following the weather forecasts for Pigeon Forge for a couple weeks before our trip, and they all looked poor. Rain, rain and more rain. But we had hopes that the forecasters might have been mistaken this one time, so we made sure we had our umbrellas and set off.
The mapping program on my computer at home said it’d take about 7 and some hours to make the drive and I knew to add a couple more for various stops along the way – food, restroom, stretch our legs, see the sights, etc. So I was guessing about 10-ish for the trip and I was pretty much right on the nose.
We rose early and were clicking down the road around six a.m. A bit chilly and dark, of course, but the road was clear and dry and we were on our way!
The rains started just about the time we crossed the Ohio River at Cincinnati. They were steady and quite heavy at times. The strong rain and the ever present spray from traffic ahead made driving miserable most of the time and even dangerous during the worst of it. My phone even squawked flood warnings a few times, but most of it died down as we got into Tennessee and it was somewhat drier when we got to the cabin.
Our cabin was as advertised, clean and ready for occupation. I was a bit disappointed to find out there was no wi-fi available, but doggone it, this was a cabin in the woods. I guess I could rough it for a few days, eh? The TV was satellite and unfamiliar to me, so I had to fuss around a bit to figure it out. But finally we had TV and were able to watch most of what we wanted.
After a trip back into town for supper – a fish and chicken place – we returned to our rustic abode and hit the hay. We were pretty secluded, so this was new territory for my wife and I. We’re quite used to the sounds of the small city we live in so cars, trains, sirens and various other sounds are quite normal. But now we were in the woods! We heard various thumps and bumps and rumbles and hisses and knocks as the night passed. Bears? Racoons?
Oh God, not Bigfoot?
It was amazing how colorful our imaginations could be while we were cowering under our blankets in a dark woods.
Eventually the black night passed (Did I tell you it’s DARK in the woods, folks) and the gray light of another rainy day dawned. The weather reports on TV said rain most of the week, which was sad but not unexpected. We cleaned up and headed back into Pigeon Forge for some breakfast. We noticed we were starting to get comfortable with the twists and turns we had to make to get from the cabin to town.
Breakfast was at a pancake cabin along the main drag. It was a chain and there must have been a dozen of them.
We had planned to drive into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park sometime during our visit, but were hesitant to do so now because of the rain. We decided to do it then anyhow, rain be damned. The park entrance was quite a ways out of town. The mapping program had said about an hour to get there and they were right. Finally we drove through the main gate and were in the park. The area we wanted to visit was called Cades Cove. There was a loop road at that part – one way – that was where everyone wanted to go. It was supposed to be THE place to see wildlife. Uh-huh. Supposed to be… On a sunny day I was guessing. Anyhow, we drove it, along with hundreds of other cars. I wondered aloud about how jam-packed that drive might be in July on a warm, pretty day. This was about as gloomy as it gets and still there were LOTS of folks out and about. Anyway, we saw a small herd of horses and various flocks of turkeys as we made the journey. No deer. No bears. But at the very end of our time in the park I spotted what MIGHT have been a wolf. It was next to the road. Darkish and dog-like but definitely NOT a dog. The nose was not pointy like a coyote either. Only saw it for a second or two, but doggone it, I’m going to say it was a wolf!
We took another route back to “civilization” – Gatlinburg – that was the curviest road I’ve ever driven. It followed a mountain river and had places you could almost see yourself coming and going as you rounded another 300+ degree curve.
Lunch was at a Mexican restaurant and was quite good. We returned to the cabin for a while that afternoon then visited one of the many museums along the main drag. This one was called "Alcatraz East” and was all about crime and criminals. Quite well done and we got great discounts there for me being a veteran. After that we went to a Sonic and had hot fudge sundaes. Mmmm! Lunch was late and large, so we weren’t very hungry. Then it was back to the cabin in the dark. The mountain roads are QUITE a bit more challenging at night!
Tuesday morning we had breakfast at a Cracker Barrel – a large meal. My seemingly never-ending off-and-on stomach problems were on again this week, so I had some belly difficulties for some hours after eating. Next we drove to a huge knife store up in Sevierville, a little north of Pigeon Forge. We wandered around it for an hour or two and - wait for it - bought some knives! What a stretch, eh? Never saw so much knives in my life. And in the lower level, a large kitchen store with – wait for it again – oodles and oodles of kitchen knives! Wowser! Quite an interesting place.
We’d purchased tickets for a dinner theater the day before, so after the knife place we went there. It was called “The Hatfield and McCoy Feud Dinner Theater.” Never mind how incongruous the title was and how the real feud took place hundreds of miles away, it was fun. It was a huge theater with tables on tiers above the stage. They served a nice lunch before the show – fried chicken and pulled pork, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, corn-on-the-cob, rolls and butter. It was topped off by your choice of banana or chocolate pudding. The show was part country music, part funny stuff and all family-friendly cornpone. The famous feud was the cornerstone of the show of course, but the performance ended up with a large pool of water on the stage with the actors diving into it along with diving dogs and silly skits. It was a nice high point for the day and, albeit somewhat expensive, still a fun couple of hours.
Supper was a Shoney’s and I had just soup and salad. Again our mid-day meal was large and I wasn’t very hungry. We returned to the cabin around 8 and had some wine. Wanted to watch some TV on FX, but we didn’t have FX there.
We are really roughing it this week!
Wednesday was our last full day in Tennessee. Heavy rain was forecast for all day. Yesterday we actually had a little sun peeking out in the afternoon, but today we were back in the soggies.
Went to a place called Mel’s Diner for breakfast. It was modeled after a diner in a 70’s TV show called “Alice” starring Linda Lavin. It was a small, stainless-steel sided diner, 50’s decorations on the walls inside with good diner food and cantankerous waitresses. They seemed to be busy every time we drove past the place. We ate and enjoyed the shenanigans going on, then ventured out again into the deluge.
Next stop was the Hollywood Wax Museum. Yes, I know. Wax museums are kind of the low end of any tourist area, most kind of tacky, but it was a rainy day and… Hell… Anyhow, we went. Actually it was one of the better ones. The wax figures were mostly very good likenesses of the people and most of them had props you could hold or wear if you wanted to take your pictures with them. It was actually kind of fun. The building itself, on the outside, was a replica of the Empire State Building with King Kong climbing it! Very noticeable from a long way away. Then it was souvenir shopping and a stop at another area to go through a candy store (yeah, we bought some), a pottery (beautiful stuff – had to force myself not to spend some real money) then a stop at a distillery. There were many distilleries in the area, but this one was where we were, so… We sampled some various flavors of the local moonshine – apple pie, blackberry, cinnamon, banana’s foster, chocolate and other yummy ones. You got six tastes for free and we enjoyed them all. We then adjourned back to the cabin for a rest. We MIGHT have been a bit woozy from the moonshine! Supper was at an upscale Italian place and the servings were enormous. We ate like troopers, but were, in the end, stymied by the amount of food. Back to the cabin afterward to finish the wine and hit the hay early. Another early day coming up tomorrow.
Thursday was our travel day. Doughnuts and decaf were our motivators that dark and rainy morning as we headed north through the monsoon. It was just as miserable as the drive down had been with moderate rain interspersed with very heavy downpours. From Lexington north, however, the rains had stopped and those hours on the road were dry and pleasant, albeit quite cloudy. We returned home in the late afternoon.
It was cool, dry and we were finally back.
A DREAM VACATION
To all of my faithful readers out there, I’d like to share a few facts with you if you would allow me. I find them interesting and so might you. They’re also apropos to the travelogue you’re about to read.
The Carnival Cruise Line has 27 ships sailing the world at this point in time consisting of 8 classes. These are: Fantasy – 70,000 gross tons, Triumph – 101,000 gross tons, Spirit – 88,000 tons, Conquest – 110,000 tons, Splendor – 113,000 tons, Dream – 130,000 tons, Sunshine – 102,000 tons and Vista – 133,000 tons. Those are the weights of those ships devoid of passengers or crew.
We have sailed on one Fantasy class, two Conquest classes and just last week on one of the biggest ones, a Dream class – actually the first of that class, the Carnival Dream. Our ship, our home-away-from-home was built in 2008, has a passenger capacity of 4,600 and has over 1,400 crew. On our particular sailing the passenger load was around 4,000 with over 400 children.
What’s really remarkable about being on a ship with that many people on board is that you usually don’t notice it as being too crowded. Occasionally there are lines of course, here and there. But they are usually not too long and move fairly quickly. I’ll give you some examples later on.
So with that being said, the rest of this blog concerns our vacation around the end of April and the beginning of May. Some might consider the blog fascinating, others interesting and the rest maybe ho-hum. In any event, for those wanting to come along, welcome!
This particular odyssey began in a cold Ohio drizzle on a Wednesday morning in late April about two weeks ago. We had decided to drive to the port for this cruise for several reasons. It would be a bit cheaper than flying, we actually enjoy road trips and the departure port was New Orleans – a two-day drive we had done before. There were two other couples joining us for the road trip part, and one of them would also be joining us on the cruise. We all were friends and co-workers and were looking forward to a nice trip. Their names were Chuck and Pam and Dan and Alice.
The road trip went fairly well until we encountered a traffic jam between Cincinnati and Louisville, Kentucky. A MASSIVE traffic jam. It took almost two hours before we were able to inch off at an exit. Then we had to detour around what ended up being a very bad accident on the interstate. Imagine thousands of trucks with a scattering of cars slowly making their way up and down small Kentucky roads for miles and miles to bypass this accident. By the time we returned to the interstate at the next exit we’d lost two to three hours driving time. Being slowed down in this spot meant we were to be rewarded by going through Nashville, Tennessee in the middle of a Wednesday rush hour. This is not a recommended thing to do. Judy and I finally got to the hotel we’d booked in northern Alabama much later than we’d planned. Our friends were even further behind. We finally met up with them at a restaurant near our hotels and told each other our individual traffic jam horror stories. After a decent meal it was off to our hotel beds and soon we were asleep.
On Thursday we again hit the road in a dreary rain which dogged us until we were in the state of Mississippi. A funny story: While passing through that state, Judy said that she’d seen an armadillo next to the highway. A live one. Now my wife has excellent eyes and can see things that most other folks can’t, but… an armadillo? In Mississippi? I kidded her about it for a while, but then, who knows? Maybe?
We enjoyed watching the countryside come alive as spring showed her green leaves and colorful flowers to our thankful eyes, more so with each mile southward we traveled. Ohio was definitely a week or two behind these latitudes in the springtime department.
Our GPS routed us to the big causeway across Lake Pontchartrain north of New Orleans. It’s an interesting stretch of highway with the big lake all around you. And there was an odd thing about our GPS routing that day too. When we were within a mile or so of our hotel, the GPS routed us INTO the New Orleans airport, PAST the departure drop-off area and then BACK out onto the highway. When I mentioned that odd thing to the hotel desk clerk, she said that she’d heard that story before. Just an odd thing about the roads in that area I guess. Oh yes, we also hit New Orleans rush hour traffic on I-10 during this leg of the journey. We seemed to never get a break. Again our travel companions were way behind us, so my wife and I ate supper alone at a restaurant across the street from the hotel. It was called the Voodoo Barbecue and Grill and had very good Nawlin’s type food. Judy ordered a shrimp dish that was just simply outstanding. This was in a suburb of New Orleans named Kenner where our hotel was, but the food was downtown NOLA good! We returned to the hotel around 8:30 and the other couples arrived a little after that. We mentioned a couple restaurants in the area and, if I’m not mistaken, they selected Wendy’s. In other words, on their first night in Creole-Cajun Country they ate fast food. I’m sure Paul Prudhomme, somewhere, was rolling in his grave. Judy and I were soon off to bed again with visions of heavy traffic and Cajun-flavored shrimp dancing in our heads.
On Friday, my wife and I were going to be tour guides for a while. Our friends had never been to NOLA, so we were going to show them a few things, orient them a bit as to where everything we knew about in the French Quarter was and then turn them loose.
We ate breakfast at the hotel then drove all three cars into town. After a few detours through the Quarter, we arrived at our parking lot near the old Jax brewery on Decatur. As is the case in most big cities and especially in tourist areas, parking is expensive. $30 for five hours in this case. The other two couples had brought electric scooters to help the ladies get around as the women have some mobility issues. I led this merry procession to one of Judy’s and my favorite stops in the French Quarter, the Café du Monde. We had to have our friends taste beignets and café au lait. The perfect way to start the day in the Crescent City! They were busy there, but they always are, seems like. We savored the tasty French pastries and the creamy coffee, then walked (and scooted) across the street to where carriage rides were available. We all bought passage on a carriage pulled by a mule named Freckles, whose spotted hide gave credence to his name. By the way, they use mules in NOLA instead of horses because the mules are stronger, smarter and don’t mind the heat as much as horses would. At least that’s what our driver told us.
Our carriage ride went through the French Quarter, while our driver (muleskinner?) described what we were seeing and told us a lot of the history of the area, all of which was fascinating. We stopped at the St. Louis No. 1 cemetery halfway through the tour and did a walking tour of it. Judy and I had seen it before, but it was still an interesting hour or so. As a note: Nicholas Cage has a new tomb in there, pyramid-shaped, prepared for his eventual demise. Very odd. Another fact: the tombs there are all above ground due to the high water table. Because of the heat in NOLA, a body in a tomb will turn to dust in about a year – a slow cremation. Then, when another body needs to be entombed, they just brush the dust off from the previous occupant and slide in the new wooden coffin. Thus a whole family can utilize a smallish tomb. Then back to Freckles and the carriage and the ride back to Jackson Square where we had started.
After that we moved to Aunt Sally’s praline shop nearby to purchase some of New Orleans best confections– pralines! Then we split up, letting the other two couples visit and tour the area as they wanted.
Judy and I walked further east down Decatur Street to a bar called Tahyo. Some backstory about that if I may. We had become fond of a TV show on the Animal Planet channel called “Pit Bulls and Parolees”. It was about a lady, Tia Torres and her family, who ran a dog rescue facility called Villalobos and who had ended up in New Orleans rescuing Pit Bull dogs. She also liked to hire parolees so they could have a chance on the outside. I believe Tia’s husband is in prison, so her preference for parolees is understandable. Anyhow, they always need more money to support their dogs, so they’d opened up a bar and a shop in the Quarter. All profits from them went to support the rescue center. Judy and I had a drink there, bought a t-shirt and helped the cause!
We then returned to our car (the five hour limit was almost up) and headed out to the Villalobos Rescue Center itself on Claiborne Street to take some pictures of the place. Unfortunately, on the way there, while I was negotiating a merge into traffic, someone banged into our car from the rear. By the time I pulled over, the offender had driven away. Just another hit-and-run in good ol’ Nawlins. The damage was ugly, but the car was driveable, the trunk was ok and all the lights worked. So… We drove on to Villalobos and took some pictures of the buildings and of people walking some of the rescued dogs. This was probably the low point of the vacation for me. We then drove back to the hotel, about 15 miles, again through quitting time traffic.
Kinda getting used to it by then.
Supper was back at the Voodoo barbecue place with our friends and then back to the hotel, the air conditioning, a little TV and then the comfortable bed.
Saturday was another sunny day in southern Louisiana. We decided not to go back downtown today. We had been there a number of times and actually couldn’t think of anything we particularly wanted to do there that we hadn’t done before. We encouraged our friends to do so however. We decided to do some laundry. (How boring was that?) The hotel’s laundry room was right across the hallway from our room so it was easy. Judy had even brought some detergent with us from home for that very reason! I ran out and grabbed a geocache while Judy starting the clothes and she was about done when I returned. I got one, too, which adds another state to our tally. Did some research on where to eat supper that night as it would be the last night for all six of us and I hoped to make it a memorable place. Decided on a local favorite, The Kenner Fish Restaurant. We drove down there that evening and, even though they were quite busy, were seated in less than 10 minutes. They had a very extensive menu, many of the items seafood, obviously. We saw a lot of locals sitting around us devouring boiled crawfish – mudbugs as they call them down there. Looked interesting, but decided to pass that evening on the “bugs”. Ended up with stuffed catfish, sides and a local beer, Abita Amber. Very large portions all around. Sadly I’m not sure my friends were all that into seafood, but they seemed OK with what they ordered and everything seemed to be right with the world that evening.
Next day, Sunday, was finally embarkation day! Yippee! We were up early and finished packing. I had several hurdles to overcome last week before I was totally sure I’d be able to make the trip – a couple of medical procedures – but they’d been completed satisfactorily and at last we were going.
We had a hotel breakfast with our friends and wished the couple who were heading off on their own, Chuck and Pam, good luck and fun on their travels. We talked to the other couple who were going with us and made plans for our drive down to the pier. We left a bit early as NOLA was having Jazz Fest that week and I was a little concerned about the traffic. Actually the drive was fast and easy. We encountered a line of cars waiting to enter the parking garage – cruisers obviously – but were in and parked fairly quickly. Checking in to the ship was mostly quick and painless. Lines of course, but all moving steadily. Soon we were on the ship! Carnival Dream, like all the other Carnival ships we’ve sailed on, is a beauty. Some say they’re “too gaudy” or “too over the top” in decor. Maybe we’re just simple folk, but we like it! We got our “sail and sign” cards before boarding – the card you use to “purchase” anything onboard – and they were gold this time! We’ve accrued 25 or more days sailing with Carnival and had achieved this level. It was a little exciting to be on the third tier of cruisers. The colors of the tiers are: blue, red, gold, platinum and diamond, each level attained by the number of days you have sailed with the Line. We ate our lunch at the Gathering buffet on the Lido deck and soon were in our stateroom. This was our first balcony cabin on a Carnival ship, so we were really enjoying being able to sit outside and watch the world from there. Our luggage was delivered quickly and soon we were all unpacked and snug in our little home away from home for the week.
I sat on the balcony as the ship left port and snapped away with my camera, recording how the Mississippi looked from a ship sailing down it. Saw lots of refineries, docks, tugboats and barges. We heard a knock on our balcony door and saw it was our room steward Arnold. He was setting up how many times we wanted our room made up and if we had any other requirements. He learned our names immediately and anytime we saw him in the halls during the cruise he called us by them. Good guy! Later in the day as we left most of civilization upriver, it was mostly trees and swamps. And lots and lots of brown Mississippi River water heading down toward the Gulf just as we were.
We had supper in the MDR (main dining room) that evening – the four of us – Dan, Alice, Judy and I. This ship had two main dining rooms, Scarlet and Crimson. I had trouble remembering which was ours. I remembered red, but that wasn’t good enough. (Why did they name them both synonyms of red?) Lots of fun during the week. We had good food and good conversation that meal. Our assigned dining room waiters were wonderful and knew our names after only hearing them once. Our head waiter, Sherwin, a Philipino, was perfect in his job and we loved him almost immediately. We could not remember ever having an issue with any of Carnival’s crew on any ship we’ve sailed on. Hard working, polite, friendly, good at their positions and always, always with a smile on their faces.
Judy and I went to the Welcome Aboard show in the main theater after supper to see what our Cruise Director was like. A good CD can make a good cruise into a great cruise and we lucked out on ours. His name was Lee, a 31-year-old Brit, and as full of energy as anyone you’ve ever met. A truly nice man and a natural born CD. He was MC of the show, talked about the ship and this and that, then introduced the singers and dancers we’d see during the week and they did a number. He then led them (and another 500 merrymakers) the length of the ship in a big conga line. They really push having fun on these ships! Finally we adjourned back to the cabin, poked our heads out to watch the blackness of the Mississippi as it neared its mouth, and then hit the hay.
Monday would be our first full day on the cruise. It was a sea day, meaning we would not hit a port that day. I awoke before Judy, around 7, and I slipped out onto our balcony to see what I could see. The sun was directly in front of me and it was forming a gleaming silver river of light across the blue water leading right to our cabin. At least it seemed like that. It was warm – mid 70’s – with a slight breeze from the motion of the ship. A couple small fair-weather cumulus clouds dotted the sky and there was not a sign of land or ship anywhere, just a straight line where the light blue sky met the gentle sea. I sat there a while contemplating my good fortune at being at this place at this time. The ship gently swayed beneath me and I closed my eyes and, as the hippies used to say, dug it all!
Finally I left the paradise of our balcony, cleaned up and grabbed a coffee from the Lido and again enjoyed the sunny morning on the balcony. We met Alice and Dan in the dining room for a sea-day brunch – a special meal they just served just on sea days. I had an omelet with bacon and cheese grits. We chatted with several couples at nearby tables and enjoyed the ambiance. The four of us then adjourned to the theater to watch our high energy CD Lee in the Fun Ashore, Fun Aboard show. I bailed out early, walked around the ship a bit and took some pictures, then went back to the cabin. I may have napped. Judy joined me later and, since it was approaching lunchtime, we headed back to the Lido. I selected the Indian food at the Tandoor spot. I like Indian food and it was pretty good. After lunch I split off from Judy and went to what they called a Veteran’s Table. This is where any vets onboard who want to attend sit at a table (or two tables as happened for us), drink some tea (it was tea time on the ship), eat some pastries and talk about military stuff. We used to call it “telling war stories” in the old days. For an hour or so we chatted about our times in the military and things we’d seen and done. Fascinating! I felt quite a part of a family sitting with my “brothers in arms”, listening to and telling tales. There were lots of heroes around that table that day, for sure.
That night was formal night in the MDR, where folks could dress up as fancy as they wanted. We put on our good duds and joined Alice and Dan and the rest of the well-dressed crowd. Lobster and prime rib were showcased for that meal and we all ate very well. It was amazing how snazzy we could all clean up! There was a Motown theme to the theatrical show that night and we attended after a quick visit back to the room where we put back on our comfy clothes. After the main show we went to the aft lounge for the late R-rated comedy show which was quite funny. Then back to the cabin to crash. Tomorrow would be Mexico!
Tuesday was another bright sunny day. This would be the rule for our trip that week. We were so lucky. We were done with breakfast around 10:30 and hit the gangway down to Costa Maya on Mexican soil around 12:30. I had booked us a day at a beach club called Tropicante just down the shore from the docks. If you’re familiar on how the ports for Carnival work, here’s the scoop. You generally dock at a long, long pier from which you have to walk to the port itself. Then you generally go through some sort of building where the local vendors get their first crack at you. Then you exit that area to another open air shopping area where there are many shops where you can buy all kinds of things. After walking through that you reach the entrance to the port itself. On land it was very hot and it was affecting Judy a lot. It crossed her mind to turn back to the ship and the a/c, but she pushed onwards and made it to the taxi stand (where we almost stepped on an iguana). We selected one (cab not iguana) and were driven to the resort.
Tropicante is on the beach with shaded and open sun seatings, a restaurant and bar, and many vendors walking by with items for sale. They weren’t pushy at all, so we just shook our heads no and continued enjoying our day as they passed by. We had beach loungers under coconut palm trees and a friendly waiter who came around often to ask if we needed anything – food, a drink, etc. It was a very pleasant place. I went out in the water for about an hour. It was warm, clear and very inviting. Our lunches were yummy – I had fish tacos and Judy fried fish and fries. Prices were quite reasonable and they didn’t charge for anything other than the food and drinks. Nice! I used sun block, but ended up getting a bit burned on my face and head anyway. Typical situation for me in the tropics. We enjoyed ourselves for the afternoon and then taxied back to the ship around 5:15. Dinner was again with our shipmates in the Scarlet. Or was it the Crimson? Damn. Anyway, I had a seafood-in-penne-pasta dish. It was OK, but I wouldn’t order it again. The drink waiter came around with shots and I purchased one. Kind of a Fireball-based concoction. Creamy yellow, quite hot and I got to keep the glass! Alice had stayed on the ship that day – not feeling well and her scooter was kaput – wouldn’t charge – and Dan had exited and done some shopping. We parted after talking a bit about the next day, which would be Mahogany Bay in Honduras.
On Wednesday we were up earlier as we would port around 8 am. I watched the trees and houses of Roatan Island drift by as the ship was maneuvering toward the dock, again glad for the front-row seat from our balcony. Alice and Dan had booked an island tour with us earlier, so they were raring to go. Due to her scooter dying, Alice had a Carnival employee push her in a wheelchair out of the ship, up the dock and through the shopping area to where there were cabs available to take us to where our independent tour was to depart. The independents were not allowed to be on the Carnival property to pick up business, so we had to go to them outside the gates. We got on a 10-seater van and started our tour of Roatan Island. We learned a lot of the history and geography of the island and of Honduras itself. Our driver warned us to not go to the mainland, as it was quite a dangerous place. He said that most of the drugs used in this hemisphere came through the Nicaragua/Honduran border. All politicians were corrupt also he said, even on the island. He also said that there were quite a few ex-pats living on the island – Americans, Brits and Italians. Their areas of the island are pretty nice and well kept, the rest not so much. After a while we stopped at their private “zoo” and were able to hold and interact with monkeys, macaws and sloths. Afterward we traveled to the West End beach where we were let off at the Bananarama beach resort for a 2-hour beach break. It was another beautiful place with palms and sand and clear Caribbean water. I took another dip and the water was a bit cooler than it was in Costa Maya but still pleasant after the heat of the day. After a half-hour and more sun, I went back to the shade with the other three. Pizza and a great mixed drink called a bananarama (go figure) made our lunch. Alice got her hair braided (also go figure). Then the van picked us up and, after a bumpy ride back (the roads are pretty miserable there), deposited us at the pier.
Supper that night was on the Lido deck at the buffet as none of us wanted a formal setting. Food was so-so. Judy and I stopped at the casino for a few minutes and dropped $20. We’re SUCH big spenders! We sat together on our balcony and watched the shopping area on the island after the cruisers had all left and gone back to their ships. It looked so empty and sad in the afternoon sunshine. We waved goodbye to Honduras as our ship pulled from the dock and headed north away from the island. We took in another show in the theater – 80’s theme this time with many cool affects – pyrotechnics, lasers, moving treadmills and rising/falling stages. Pretty cool!
Thursday would consist of several firsts for us. A new country – Belize. Our first tender port – where the ship anchored five miles from the port and we were ferried in and out by smaller boats. Our first Mayan ruins. I was really looking forward to it – Judy not so much. Tendering ended up being very easy. They extended a gangway from the ship to the smaller boat and we walked over. Easy-peasy. Of course the sea was pretty calm. Wouldn’t have been that simple if we had some 10-footers around! We got on busses at the port and started off on our exploration of Belize City. Our travel guide was a pretty Belizian lady who spoke perfect English with just a touch of the island patois. She told us LOTS of facts about her country. A few: it’s the only Central American country whose official language is English. It used to be British Honduras until the 70’s when it gained its independence and its new name. They have poisonous snakes, crocodiles and the largest population of manatees in the world. It used to be a big-time mahogany producer – used to log them in the mountains and float ‘em down the river to the sea. She even taught us some Creole words that the locals use among themselves. After seeing the city we rode about 45 minutes out to the Altun Ha Mayan ruins site. She turned us over to an Altun Ha guide who led us back to the site itself. Again we got lots of facts. Altun Ha was the only Mayan site where they did NO human sacrifices. They think it was because this site was a major religious place. There were several structures that had been excavated there, among them two pyramids that could be climbed.
I climbed the shorter of the two.
To experience how this procedure felt, go to the staircase in your home right now. Climb it, two steps at a time WITHOUT touching the railing. Make sure you climb 27 or more steps doing this. Then come down the same way, 2 steps at a time, no railing. Yes, not a whole lot of fun, eh? This 71-year-old was sure huffing and puffing after this adventure. You betcha! But finally this box was ticked off on my bucket list and I had a smile on my face after the feat even though I was knackered. I took a bunch of pictures and still had enough energy to walk back to the bus. I did end up dozing a bit on the ride back to the port though. Another fact passed on to us from the guide around then: ocelots, jaguars, pumas and other big cats were VERY common in the backcountry – like where we were near the ruins. The people living there would very often see them at night. Very often. Sometimes they’d even eat the livestock and the dogs. Really gave me a shudder thinking that those cats might even THEN be watching us from the encroaching jungle passing by our bus and licking their spiny whiskers. Brrr…!
The tender back to the ship was non-eventful. Judy and I celebrated the hot day by again getting an ice cream cone on the Lido. As we were beginning to be hungry, we had a Guy’s burger for lunch. Guy Fieri, a famous chef on the Food Channel, was chosen to put his name and his burger recipe to burger shops on Carnival ships. They are VERY good burgers! We enjoyed our all-American feasts to the last morsel. We returned to our balcony and watched the last tender boat pull away from the Dream and then watched us follow a Royal Caribbean ship leaving the docking area. We skipped out of the second formal night in the MDR (Scarlet?) and went to the Deli for a later supper. We weren’t too hungry after the Guy’s burger, so didn’t do much justice to our deli sandwiches. Walked to the theater then to watch that night’s production. It was called “Flick” and paid tribute to songs from movies. It was the best of the week! Very dramatic, exciting and entertaining. Quite tired afterward. Received word that Alice and Dan would not be joining us for our day at Nachi Cocum on Cozumel the next day, so we would be on our own. Then it was off to bed.
On Friday we were back in Mexico. Aiii cucaracha! Cozumel would be a repeat for us. We’d been there before about a decade ago, and were going back to the same beach resort we’d been to before – Nachi Cocum. This is an all-inclusive resort about 15 miles south of the port. It limits its customers to 100 or less per day, so it’s usually pretty quiet compared to some of the other resorts around. I exited the boat early by myself. I wanted to get a geocache and return for breakfast with Judy. I walked the long hot pier and into the hot shopping area before turning on my GPS. When I did I saw that the nearest geocache was 2 ½ miles away downtown. (We’d docked at the Puerto Maya pier, some ways from downtown.) Jeepers! I wasn’t walking 5 miles round trip to get a geocache or paying a cab to take me, so I returned to the ship and called it a no-go on the caching there. After breakfast we walked the pier, Judy for the first time that day and me the second. We went through the entrance building and into the shopping area. My lovely wife was again saying how hot it was, and yadda-yadda-yadda. I calmly (!?!?) told her that gee whiz, woman. It’s Mexico in the springtime. It’s supposed to be hot! Wait until July and August! Perhaps I could have been more understanding, but… Ya gotta tough some things out for the reward at the end. Gee whiz.
We cabbed out to the resort and yes, it’s still as nice as it was before – perhaps even nicer. Soft sandy beach, thatched palapas (big umbrellas) for shade, beach recliners, restaurant, bars, new restrooms and showers/changing rooms, a pool and hot tub. And to our delight, it was only about half full. Bad for them I suppose, but nice for us. We were led to our palapa and had our first drink of the day. I once again went into the water and enjoyed myself for a while. It was cooler than I would have liked, but after a few minutes it was quite OK. Then back to the lounger, another drink and a lovely lunch of broiled grouper with sides of rice and veggies. VERY good. Also had a shrimp cocktail and it was absolutely wonderful! The cocktail sauce in which the shrimp were immersed was truly something to write home about. Judy had chips and salsa with her lunch and I tried the salsa. I immediately warned her about it after one bite. It was HOT! Of course I had to eat most of it and suffered for a while from the ol’ tongue burn! After I ate I went to the swimming pool then the hot tub. The latter really hit the spot and I ended up spending some real quality time in there. It was a quiet and peaceful day.
We were back on the ship by 2 p.m. after making a few purchases in the shopping area at the dock. Vanilla was a priority, of course, this time for Judy’s sister and my brother Chuck – we still had a big bottle from a previous trip. I asked Judy if she wanted to shop for some silver jewelry then as Cozumel is the place to get it. She declined. I guess I’m lucky she’s not that into jewelry. Back on the ship we enjoyed the a/c and another ice cream cone. Not good for me, really, but this indulgence all stops in a day or two. The ship pulled away from the dock around 5 and we offloaded the pilot about 15 minutes later. We ate again in the MDR (some sort of red) and caught up with Dan and Alice. I had Veal Parmesan with spaghetti and Judy a pork chop. Dan had been ashore that day and done some shopping, Alice had not. We found out that there had been a flood on the ship the other day. We didn’t know about it. It was on deck 9, port side. We were on deck 8, port side and were oblivious. It was a broken water line that flooded a hallway and a number of cabins. It was soon fixed and the clean-up was mostly done in about a day or day-and-a-half. They even replaced most of the carpeting in the damp areas. Two passengers decided to go home early because of the water, but the rest stayed on and were rewarded by having their cruises paid for and half of their next one. Carnival’s real good about stuff like that.
The ship was rocking a bit that evening and that made for a great night for sleeping. Obviously I have no problem with seasickness. PS. I take Bonine just in case!
Saturday was our last full day of the cruise. It was inherently sad, of course, but I believe Judy and I were about ready for land and the trip home. I was VERY tired last night. We went to the theater for the performance about Rock music. It was loud, but even with the volume I still kept nodding. We had planned on going to the comedy club again, but I begged off and dropped like a rock.
The ship was still bouncing around a little that morning, but we’d become quite used to the motion by then. To add a big punctuation mark to the cruise, the sun was again shining down on us as we sailed through the Gulf of Mexico again, this time homeward bound. As we worked our way through packing our luggage for the next day’s departure, I gave some thought about our week’s adventure. Had the preceding days been worth it? Did they matter in the big picture? I of course answered myself with a big SURE! Of course there had been some down times to go along with the ups. Damaging the car was a bummer of course. Toughing our way through numerous traffic jams wasn’t fun in any respect nor was the brutal heat in various places. It was also sad Alice’s buggy died and she wasn’t able to quite do all she wanted, but she did get a fair amount done anyway. On the flip side, we saw some exceedingly lovely tropical places, met some great people, ate very, very well and lived what many would consider la dolce vita - “the good life” for a while. We again saw how some of the other folks in the world lived and a lot of that again made us thankful for all our blessings.
All in all, it was a nice vacation.
By the way, that sunny day sailing the Gulf of Mexico was Cinco de Mayo and that meant party time on the Dream. Seems like there were a LOT of reasons for parties on Carnival.
We attended the debarkation talk with Lee the CD. He seemed to be everywhere this trip! We needed to be out of our stateroom by 8 am the next morning to give the steward time to freshen it up for the next guest. We’d wait in the aft lounge until our debarkation group number was called then proceed to the gangway and onward through customs and back to our car in the garage.
We had lunch that day up on the Lido deck again. I told Judy that I was having Indian food and what did she want to get? She answered, “Not Indian!” I laughed. (She’s not a fan) We noshed our lunches and also grabbed a selection from the chocolate buffet. That was a selection of chocolate baked goodies they present the last day on the ship. After chocolotizing ourselves, we wandered back to the theater where Lee (remember him?) along with the hotel director and the entertainment director were available for a q & a session. Lots of interesting questions were asked and answered along with a detailed explanation on the flooding of deck 9 several days before. We heard the TRUE story, not the fantasy you saw on some social media. We then stuck around for the $5,000 bingo game. We played and guess what? We didn’t win! Surprise! Oh well. Judy and I had Miami Vice cocktails about then and they were mmmmm good! We got back to the room soon after and saw a box on our table and it had three full bottles of whiskey in it! Three full bottles of the good stuff. Obviously delivered to the wrong cabin. We called our steward and had it whisked away (and hopefully delivered to the correct recipient this time). I am constantly amazed by my honesty!
Supper was prime rib tonight (for me) and other goodies for my shipmates. Baked Alaska was our dessert and it was quite good. We tipped extra to our room steward and to our restaurant guys. At the end of the meal the whole dining room staff sang the “Leaving on a Fun Ship” song (to the tune of Leaving on a Jet Plane) and it was so sad as it always is. We’d had such a good time and it was now drawing to a close.
We returned to our room, finished packing the bags that would be carried off the ship that night for us and put them in the hallway. Then we sat on our much-beloved balcony and watched the sun go down. That evening we walked to the casino and played slots a little more. I ended up about $60 to the good, making up for the $20 from before and the $20 for that night. It’s always nice to be on the plus side in the casino. Then we took in the last comedy show of the trip and one more drink – this one on the house for us as GOLD card folks. The comedian was quite a funny man, but the bed was calling our names and soon we were snoozing.
Sunday we debarked from our fun ship. Out of the room by 8 am. Waited in the lounge for our number to be called. Off the ship by 9:15 and in our car by 9:30. An excellent debarkation.
I could sit here and talk about the next two days also, but be assured it was long stretches of driving, short rest stops and a nice hotel near Nashville at the halfway home point. We eventually arrived home in the early evening of Monday, tired but happy to be home where our son and our dog were waiting.
If you’ve followed along this far, gentle reader, what do you think? Sound like fun? If so, I’ll give you the phone number of Eric, our Carnival PVP, Personal Vacation Planner, and he’ll get ya all set up. If you haven’t done this before, give ‘er a try.
I always seem to get a bit emotional and have deep thoughts after a good time like this. Was it worth it? Did I enjoy it? Will I do it again? And the one that’s the biggest of all now days: How many more of these do I have left? Will I be around to cruise some more? Do I have one more in me? Five more? Or more? I’m no longer a youngster you know and the health issues of mine, my wife and our friends have become more and more relevant in selecting vacations. I guess, when all is said and done, all I can do is be thankful for what I’ve had and be hopeful for what’s ahead. As we like to say around these parts, “If the Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise.” And if that’s the case my friend, maybe I’ll see you on a Lido deck sometime in the near future. I’ll buy you a drink, you’ll buy me one and we can both watch the blue, blue water of some tropical ocean flow by the sleek hull of our wonderful fun ship.
Two Years In
Exactly two years ago today I was on a gurney and being wheeled into an operating room at Aultman Hospital in Canton, Ohio. I had experienced moderate chest pains three days before, on the 19th, and had called the rescue squad to carry me to our local hospital where, after examination and some blood tests it was verified that I had experienced a heart attack. After a heart catherization they saw I had several blocked coronary arteries and that those arteries were too blocked for stenting to be accomplished.
I was on my way to open-heart bypass surgery.
I won’t go into any great detail about the run up to the operation, the surgery itself or the recovery. I covered most of that in a couple previous blogs not long after they happened. Needless to say now, I got through the operation in decent shape and the recovery went as anticipated.
I am now at the second anniversary of that surgery and believe it’s about time for a little reflection. About time to do some thinking about those days, to compare them to how my life is going now and to contemplate the years to come.
At this point you could ask, “So amigo, how are things going?”
Before answering you I sit here thinking about that very question and wondering how to answer. Incredibly it’s been over 700 days since that dark February two years ago.
“I’m doing pretty well”, I guess would be the short and sweet answer. I have no chest pain. I really don’t have anything to cause any concern about my heart at the moment. Really! At least other than the still vivid memory of how scared I was two years ago. Plus how “gun shy” I have become about ANY slight twinge, pain, ache or phantom glitch in my chest area. Hell, actually anywhere from my adam’s apple to my belly button! I am, of course, reminded daily of that surgery by the physical scars on my chest. I still wince a bit when I see myself in a mirror. The mind has a habit of forgetting the bad days, but the mirror doesn’t lie. It’s right there etched in the glass. There’s no question at all whether that commotion two years ago was all a dream when I see that.
No question at all.
I do have some ongoing medical issues, however, that I’d like to share if you’re up to reading about them. If you’d rather not, then adios my friend and may we meet again soon.
Can these present issues be attributable to my heart problems? I guess “maybe” would be a good response to that one. I have some IBS nowadays that enjoys causing me misery off and on. The symptoms are generally an upset stomach and varying degrees of nausea. Or maybe I’ll have some odd twinges or pains in my stomach/chest area at strange times. (Please see the previous paragraph about twinges, pains and etc.) Do you know how close your heart is to your stomach? Pretty darn close!
Anyhow, I’ve got a good GI doctor now, hopefully, and we’re working on doing what we can. I’ve presently got a list of foods that I should not eat or at least should eat sparingly. You could look up FODMAPS online and get a feel for what I’m talking about. Plus I have a list of foods that I should be eating, so I am trying to comply with the doctor’s wishes by eating more from the “good” list and less from the “bad”. But some of the “probably should stay away from” foods on the FODMAP list have been staples for me for so long, it’s difficult to entirely stop eating them. And their effect on me varies from none at all to quite a bit. So eating is a roll of the dice a lot of times. Was this particular twinge, pain, ache or discomfort caused by the heart problem? Probably not. Probably just gas passing through the stomach and beyond or, as Ebeneezer Scrooge thought in A Christmas Carol, “You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!” But the brain is also an organ involved in this process and it likes to jump to conclusions not necessarily rooted in fact.
I have problems time to time with not being able to taste food. Again, it’s not all the time. Just hit and miss. Some days food tastes fine – quite normal actually. Other times there’s not much taste there at all. On those days either the food’s taste is almost nonexistent or it has evolved into active nastiness. Again, is this caused by the heart problem? Possibly. A better guess would be it’s just one of the joys of getting older.
Another disconcerting thing about my health is something that was discovered while researching my stomach issues. A CRT scan found that I have an abdominal aortic aneurysm. A bulging aorta down in my belly. They reported the bulge as being of a certain length. From what I’ve learned, it has to be somewhat longer than that before anything will be done to fix it. It’s one of those “wait and watch” kind of deals. My cardiologist doesn’t seem too terribly concerned about it, so I try to go along with him and not worry. Ha! Worrying is something I do VERY well! Besides, it’s not HIS aorta that has the bulge! Anyhow, I’ll make sure to get it checked yearly and hope it doesn’t grow. But it’s there and I know it. Was this abnormality also attributable to the heart problem? From some research I’ve done on the Internet it was more likely a byproduct of the years I spent smoking cigarettes. Another fun thing you don’t know about which smoking does to you. I quit that nasty habit many years ago, but the manifold rewards of tobacco usage just keep rolling in.
So that’s the downside at the present time, pretty much. And what’s the upside?
Well, I guess still being among the living would be the biggest one. Life is good as the old adage says. I’m still able to take our dog for walks, still able to enjoy the sunny days along with the rainy and snowy ones. I still enjoy the fruits of retirement, getting out of bed in the morning at a time of my choosing, traveling and having good times with family and friends. My wife and I get enjoyment out of our exercise classes and sweating with our fellow old fogies that are there.
I guess just being thankful for all the good things that I can still enjoy even though there are the occasional aches, pains and other limitations from time to time.
I suppose you could call today actually a Thanksgiving of sorts. Even more so than the holiday of the same name, this Thanksgiving has definite personal significance.
To be honest my friends, I’ve been very lucky. I’ve attained an age that other folks, probably more deservedly than me, have been denied. My wife and I have put away enough pennies to make our retirement comfortable. My sleep may be interrupted by the call of nature most nights, but I do wake up each morning and am ready for the new day to start.
So another anniversary rolls around and another personal Thanksgiving is attained. For that I am thankful.
And always more eager for the next chapter to begin!
