Once the loungers were set out by the deck stewards, I claimed one as my own, lined it with two pool towels and called it home for the rest of the morning. I was feeling very contemplative today, for reasons I will go into later, and sitting there in the warm sunshine gazing at the wake fit my mood.
Eventually, G was awake and came out to see me, and I went forward to the Calypso Bar and got a blended white chocolate decaf skim milk mocha and called it breakfast. I changed into a swimsuit and spent the rest of the morning listening to an audiobook in and out of the Terrace Pool. My plan had been to stay there until wine tasting, but by 11:30am I had had enough sun for the day and decided to join G for lunch in the dining room.
The rest of the day followed the normal "last sea day" pattern, with the Grapevine wine tasting at 3pm (we finally got shot glasses with a different design!), then Skywalkers with friends and Dinner with Darko. Tonight's only show was the production show Disco: Blame it on the Boogie, and we went to the 7:15pm performance. Other options tonight include music and dancing and trivia (of course) and the 70's Disco party and I think Princess Pop Star, but we've decided to head out to a hot tub for a soak under a big, bright moon.
Life is good.
And speaking of that, pianist Ryan Ahern (whom I've been told is an even better/nicer person than he is a pianist) made a comment last night that really resonated with me because it's something I think about often. He said that he was so grateful to be able to perform for us on this beautiful ship and weren't we all so fortunate to be among the tiny percentage of people in the world who get to enjoy this ship and this service and this food and the whole cruise experience. He's right, of course. Friends who know how G and I live and how hard we work when we're home tell us we deserve these months at sea, and I appreciate hearing that, but I'm always slightly uncomfortable with it. Most of the people in the world work just as hard or harder and also deserve this, but only a handful get to experience it, for a myriad of reasons. Even if our ability to cruise disappears tomorrow, we will always be so blessed for having the opportunity to do it when we did, and for having each other to share it with.
:-)