The Last Night Onboard

January 31, 2013

Here we are at the end of the month, the first month of the year. I’ve been on the road for five days now. Odd how it seems like longer, like I’ve already lived a lifetime in less than a week. To be fair to myself, though, I have managed to completely rearrange my routine, my hours awake, and my surroundings in that time, so perhaps it’s not so strange that I feel as if I’ve been away much longer.

If this trip were to have a byline, it would be ‘I have always relied on the kindness of strangers’. Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to connect with young Winter and her family; today, it was young Tess and her family. Those who know me well know I don’t do makeup in my general life; I am trying to learn, knowing I’ll be judged for that in the lower States, but I’m not much good for more than the general blush, mascara and lipstick. Tess would be quite an excellent makeup artist; she took my ‘I want to learn how to do smoky eyes’ comment and starter kit, and turned it into a full beauty salon moment as she did my makeup, and my hair, and fussed a bit over my clothes. In return, I showed her some of the videos I’ve saved to my computer, funny things I found on YouTube, and introduced her to Lindsey Stirling’s music.

I spent most of the day hanging out with Tess and her family; her parents even bought me dinner. It’s a great feeling to look into my little cooler and realize I have food left over, when I expected to be scraping the bottom by now as we approach Bellingham. Thus the unofficial byline for this trip so far.

We did have a bit of excitement early this morning and in the early afternoon hours, when we hit open ocean for a while. I woke up feeling the ferry rolling back and forth, nearly pitching me off the couch I was sleeping on. If it hadn’t been so dark, I probably would have gone up to the front just to be there while the ocean was playing with us. I did go up later, when sea and sky traded places for a while and most of the passengers were down with seasickness. If I ever do go for the Navy life, I know I should be fine as far as my stomach goes.

Random thoughts of the day as the night winds down:

One should never look at the underside of a public-use table if one wishes to retain any faith in humanity as a whole.

Even the most innocent videos on my computer tend to have at least one swear word, if not more, and I don’t realize that until I’m showing a video to an eleven-year-old and wincing at the profanity.

Please God, don’t let me ever be one of those parents who screams at their children endlessly without actually following through.

Hot tea remains one of God’s gifts, even as the outdoors warms up significantly.

My spelling ability goes down in direct relation to how tired I am.

We arrive in Bellingham tomorrow morning; we’re supposed to be a bit late, something about slight engine trouble and slowing down for the weather. That doesn’t bother me, since I’m not in a rush to be anywhere after disembarking. But bed is calling my name.

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