day 100 – at sea

i can’t believe we are on day 100… only 10 more days and i will have circled the planet.  i’m still absorbing this as i go, and think i will be digesting it long after i return… needless to say, and some of you, like my astute father, have read between the lines of this blog, and sensed that there are more stories to tell than only what is written here – keep in mind that i have to write this as if my boss is sitting on my shoulder (hi, boss!), so i have kept it clean and on the fairly light side of things!  i think, by and large, it actually makes for a more pleasant read than if i were to get too nitty gritty about some of the stranger, or more interesting aspects of life at sea on a lengthy voyage.  suffice it to say, the supplemental stories will come out over time and over the dinner table this summer…  the written word should be considered before committed, once it is out there, it is out there!  i really can say that most of what (and who and where) i have experienced has been so great and so worth it!  i’ve really met some wonderful folks from all over, even made some friends i know i will stay in touch with… especially wonderful has been the second half of the trip that i have been able to share with bob!  the hardest part by far has been missing my nino, and i can’t even describe how excited i will be to have the late spring and summer off with him!  i am so excited to go home and just be mama!  we will see bob when he sails around to relocate to seattle as a home port, and will see him every other week there ‘til he comes home for a break at the beginning of august. 

we are at sea today and will be in spain tomorrow.  bob and i both are required to stay on for in-port manning (or in-port snuggling, as we like to call it), though bob’s drummer said he would sleep late if i wanted to go out quickly in the morning to pick up a souvenir… sounds like a plan! 

tonight’s set was called “mood indigo,” and includes any blues songs as well as songs with the word blue in the title…  that’s about umpteen sets worth of music, so i played all my sets tonight off this list… it was sort of quiet after 10:30, just a few folks…

everyone seems to have hit their wall a little bit this week – and the days have accelerated in a weird way… i call it the ‘cruise quickening’… happens two weeks before the end, and everyone seems a bit dazed as they try to fit the last of everything in, catch up on rest (hard to do both), contemplate packing and making travel arrangements, disentangle from this small town at sea we have made, and prepare to transition back to life on land again… some people avoid it and just stay on longer.  there is definitely a segment of our frequent cruiser population who have made this a lifestyle where they spend at least half of the year… many crew will disembark, and many are on for several more months… i can’t imagine singing 7 nights a week any longer than this 110 days, and i will surely go home and do nothing for a few days… i like my typical 3 month length as i feel i haven’t pushed myself too hard, but i am feeling quite well, actually, in terms of singing and playing… i think emotionally, however, i need to get home to my boy, and very soon… and my puppy!  i need to hang out with my babies and just be grateful for being the luckiest mama in the world, and look back and reflect on this great adventure.  i need to make sure the next 10 days rocks, though, so i am off for a siesta so i can be in good form to do it all again tomorrow!  ciao, me