Cruise 2010!!

 

I never thought January would get here. Seriously. It took forever. This has been planned since about March of last year, and those 10 months drug by so slowly.

As soon as Jennifer announced the cruise, I was in. I had no idea the dates, the price, or who I would go with, but for some strange reason I knew I needed to be there.  Isn’t it crazy how God works things out like that? I ended up going by myself, but was matched up with Jill, another girl who was traveling alone too. We hooked up over facebook and became friends so it wouldn’t be TOO weird to room with a complete stranger.

 

Now it’s not like me to do something like this. I’m more of a follower, not a leader. I’m the one who doesn’t speak out in a crowd of people, but observes and learns about others by quietly watching and listening. It was a complete leap of faith for me to do this alone.

But boy am I glad I did. 

We set sail for 7 days. There were about 25 of us, and we even picked up a few stragglers while on the boat. Several people recognized Jennifer and ended up hanging out with us.  I was sort of on the younger end of the spectrum, but no one treated anyone else any differently. I couldn’t contribute to a lot of the conversations about marriage and raising children, but we all still connected and shared with each other. There were many talks about faith and beliefs, talks about raising children, talks about where to eat for lunch (heh), and just amazing fellowship.  Never did I get the feeling that any thought they were “holier than thou”, no one was trying to one-up anyone else. And that’s hard to do with a group of mostly women.

And you want to know a secret about Jennifer?

She’s normal. She’s a wife, a mother, a regular woman like me and you. She is a gifted writer, and she has found a way to support her family with her writing. She is hilariously funny (as is PC), and can crack jokes at a moment’s notice (“m-c-k…” :) ). She’s the definition of genuine, and was very open and honest with us, which was a huge risk on her part. We all went on this trip knowing all kinds of things about her—and she didn’t know us at all.  That’s pretty brave if you ask me! She answered any and all questions we had, and in turn showed true interest in everyone else.

But it wasn’t all about her. Sure, we all wanted to get to know her better, but that’s not all this was. This was a chance to step out of our comfort zone, to meet people we probably wouldn’t have otherwise met in person, and to build relationships.

 

I made what I’m sure will be life-long friends with people from all over the US. The west coast was represented, the Colts (*cough*cough* Geaux Saints!) were represented, and my neighboring state had several different people, as well as a gal from my own state. Proof that it IS possible to meet people online and them not be stalkers or crazies. I was amazed at how well everyone got along, you would have thought we had all known each other for years. Words can’t describe how much I feel like I’ve grown, just by being around these people for a week.

I’m proud and privileged to call Jennifer and each and every one of the guys and girls there my real life friends now. Thank you, friend, for putting this trip together. You really don’t know how much I needed it.

~Amie~