A Broken Camera

Today was a very, very lazy day. It may sound boring from an outsider's perspective, but it truly was not. After a hectic last four days of excursions and appointments and adventures, it was so nice to be able to sleep in and read and nap.

I woke up around ten in the morning and walked into my parents' room. Their room was empty. Confused, I went ahead and got ready for the day before heading up to the Windjammer to see if I could find them there. Just as I was about to give up, I saw Mom walking towards me. “We went back to the room and saw that you were gone,” she explained. “I thought I'd come back and sit with you while you eat.” That was nice of her, so I got some breakfast and we chatted a bit while watching the ocean waves beat each other from the window.

I literally do not have much to share. I took a long nap. I read “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” by C.S. Lewis for the hundredth time. I sat on the balcony and watched the waves.

When it came time to have a late lunch, I went downstairs to grab some pizza from Sorrento's. Much to my surprise, the chefs were all out in the royal promenade, showing off exquisite fruit carvings and ice sculptures. They were making towel creatures for everyone to see. The best part was the desserts. Pastries, chocolate covered fruits, meats, mousses... and they were all free for anyone to take.

I filled up several plates with the desserts (and a few slices of pizza from Sorrento's) and then headed back up to the rooms. I coaxed Nawnie from her room and we had lunch together on the balcony. It was nice to spend time together.

The waves and wind have been crazy all day. It's not storming, but the waves seem to be so much higher and more powerful than they have been this entire trip. I can hear the wind whistling and howling around our cabin. At night, it sounds like some sort of crazed demon. For one of the first times, we can feel the ship truly rock. It's not terrible, but we can feel movement. It rattles the hangers in the closet and causes water to move back and forth in my glass.

The captain told us over the intercom that the wind is going steady at about fifty-five miles per hour. See, I should be used to such wind. I live in a city in Texas that was once listed in the top ten windy states of the United States. Some days we get gusts of wind up to seventy or eighty miles per hour. It's insane. But the difference between there and here is that our wind comes in GUSTS. We'll have a huge gust of wind and then a quick moment of peace and etc. This wind doesn't change. It's a constant fifty-five-mile-per-hour wind.

Because of this crazy wind, I haven't bothered to go out on top much today. I don't feel bad about it. On the first day at sea, I sunbathed for a few hours, but I'm already a little sunburned, so I don't feel like I need to do that. I'm not much of one for swimming, so I don't want to go to the pools either. There isn't much need for me to go up on the top anyways.

The balcony is sequestered behind a few low walls, so I can sit out on a deck chair and have lunch or read without having my hair blown off my head. The only difficulty is that I can hardly hear anything because of the loud blasts of wind.

We all got ready for dinner and were dismayed to find that for the last night of the cruise, we weren't seated in our normal waiter's section. However, Faycal came to us and said he would still be our waiter. It was our last night, after all! It was sad to hug goodbye and take our final pictures together. We also said goodbye to Odalis, who chuckled and hugged us all, asking us to have a picture with the entire family. All of the waiters were told over the intercom to sing us a farewell song, so they did. 

After that, we all shook hands again. Dad was sure to tell Faycal and Odalis, “God bless you,” to leave a final seed for Christ, and then we saw them for the very last time. It was sad.

As we were eating, we caught a glimpse of Miami. It was only a small silhouette in the fading night sky. We rushed to the top of the ship and I managed to catch a photo of the sun sinking behind the buildings in the midst of a beautiful sunset.

Before we went up to our rooms, we decided to take a family photo. We didn't really have many of those from this trip. We were already dressed for dinner, which was a nice bonus. Unfortunately... my camera was in an accident that involved a long fall and a hard tile floor. It did not survive. The image you see below was the last photograph that camera may ever take. The picture was taken right after the accident and you can tell the camera was already broken. As soon as we get home, my camera will be sent to the shop. I am praying desperately that it will recover.

We spent much of the evening packing our suitcases, since we had to have them set out in front of our rooms for a certain time. We laid out the toiletries and clothes we would need for the next day and set everything else outside of our rooms.

Tomorrow we'll be getting off the ship. I don't want this trip to end!