Part L - Installment Travelogue – Epilogue (and your chance to WIN!)

This is part 50 of a travelogue covering the continuing cruise adventures of the X family. The third story ended in part 49, which was published on May 29. This is an epilogue to that story (and both of the others, for that matter). If you are unfamiliar with the stories, there is an explanation and a full index on another thread on CruiseCritic, the Master Table of Contents.

Well, here we are. Part 50. I can’t believe it. If you’ve been along for the ride since the beginning nearly three years ago, you’ve witnessed the transformation of several people from cruise newbies to cruise addicts. What a ride it’s been…

Publishing chapter 50 on this particular day holds some peculiar relevance for me. At the end of this epilogue, I’ll turn that fact into a contest of sorts. Stick around…

Epilogue

Life returned to normal very quickly after our return from the Millennium cruise – quickly, as in the next day. Kris and I went back to work, while Wells and Dan returned to high school to serve out the remainder of their sentences. Next thing we knew, it was June.

The boys’ graduation may have spelled the official end to their childhood, but I think it really ended on the cruise. It was a coming-of-age experience for them. Wells and Dan had a great time on the trip, but details are hard to drag out of teen-aged boys. Perhaps we’re better off not knowing some of the things that they experienced. I’m sure they’ll never forget, though. That’s the important thing…

Wells snagged a summer job at the local video store, while Dan became ‘The Ice Cream Man’. He drove his ice cream truck up our driveway nearly every evening, just in time for dessert. I don’t know how he was able to tolerate the electronic rendition of Three Blind Mice that blared constantly from the truck’s speaker. He’s a tough guy…

In September, the boys went their separate ways. Wells entered a university; just far enough away from home that he was forced to do his own laundry. He is majoring in biotechnology, but has his eye on the anthropology curriculum. To our surprise, he chose not to play football in his first year of college. He won the defensive and offensive MVP awards in his junior and senior years of high school, but his only athletic accomplishment in his freshman year at college was to win the Johnny Damon look-alike contest. I guess that makes him an ‘idiot’.

Dan moved to Colorado to work at a ski resort for the season. All went well until this past March, when he fell and severely injured his knee. Wells flew out to Colorado, packed the injured boy and his belongings into Dan’s car, and drove the whole mess back to New Hampshire. Dan is now recovering from surgery. He is pretty dangerous on crutches. We worked out a long-term payment plan for the ship-to-shore phone calls, but he has fallen behind. That’s OK. I can wait…

Our other son, Ryan (who you may remember from the Mercury cruise), is studying radiologic technology at a local college. He had a tremendous opportunity in January of this year to accompany his aunt, uncle and cousins on the trip of a lifetime. They spent nine days climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, followed by almost two weeks on safari. There are dozens of cool pictures linked to my homepage.

Kris is looking forward to the next school year. If the plan holds, she will teach five classes the same exact topic. This year, she is teaching chemistry and two variants of biology – a workload that would make me crumble. She and Ryan cleared a big area in the yard for a vegetable garden. With the weather conditions this year, the neighbors assume that it’s a swimming pool. There is so much water underground that our well erupts regularly in geyser fashion. New Hampshire’s Old Faithful…

For years I ignored a radio program called A Prairie Home Companion. Driving back from the camp in Maine one Sunday, the only radio station I could get was playing the show. To my surprise, it featured good live music, old-time radio drama complete with sound effects, and one of the planet’s greatest storytellers. The show occasionally gets political, which of course alienates almost exactly half of the potential audience, but I’ve made it part of my Saturday night routine.

Last December, I received advance notice of a rather unique opportunity to cruise. The radio program and its host, Garrison Keillor, had chartered HAL’s Maasdam for an August cruise out of Boston, heading north. We quickly decided to go, and came up with the bright idea of inviting our mothers along. Kris’s mother agreed without hesitation, so we booked immediately. Good thing, because two days after the cruise was announced, it sold out. It took months to convince my mother to come, too. But, as of this date, we are booked and insured.

I’m sorry to say that the insurance may never have been a wiser investment. While our mothers are fit and raring to go, our fathers present quite a different picture. Kris’s father has suffered with Alzheimer’s disease for more than ten years – well past the average survival period. My father has been hospitalized since Easter with a series of problems. He has pretty much lost interest in living despite everyone’s best efforts to be supportive. My father turned 85 yesterday, and we’ll conduct a birthday party at his bedside this coming weekend. Your prayers are welcomed for both of our fathers.

So realistically, there is a possibility that come August we will be attending to family issues rather than cruising. However, if all goes well, the theme of the next cruise will be “Cruising With the Mothers on Maasdam”. Not Celebrity, I know, but they haven’t invited me back. If they do, we’ll be glad to take the mothers to Alaska any old time. Assuming the Maasdam trip is interesting (and I don’t see how that could be avoided), I’ll write about it and publish it on the HAL board. I’ll start all over again at Part I over there. I think the uninitiated, seeing “Part 51”, might be frightened off.

As for me, I’ve been working on the book version of the Galaxy cruise story. That’s not news exactly, because I’ve been working on it in fits and starts for two years. I’ve done a lot of editing, removing some material, supplementing other material and adding a whole new introductory section. I am self-publishing the book, and it will be available sometime in August. Amazon.com will carry it, and I am hopeful that Celebrity will sell it onboard their ships. I never got a lousy t-shirt from CruiseCritic, but I hope they’ll offer the book in their store, too.

Everything is ready to submit to the printer. I’m just waiting for Celebrity to respond to my request to allow their logo to appear in the cover illustration. I’ve provided a thumbnail view of the cover below. Click it for a larger image.

I’ll need to sell about 1500 books to break even, so if you are willing to order – say, 10 of them – I might make it. Anything left over will go in the cruise fund. If you would like to be notified when the book is available, please send an email to:

(click the image to launch email)

Now, the contest. I mentioned that there is some peculiar significance to my publishing this chapter today. If you are the first to reveal why that is, I’ll send you a personalized copy of the book, without charge. I like the way that sounds – “without charge”. You must provide solid evidence (which is, hint, hint, available elsewhere on CruiseCritic) to support your answer. Hurry, the contest ends at midnight today, June 2, 2005.

And that’s about it. It has been an extreme pleasure for me to hang around here with you. I hope we meet again some day…

All the best,

chesterh

p.s. We never did find the missing tux shirt. I really don’t want to know where it went. Neither does Kris…

Chester, you are 50 years today, June 2, 2005!!! So says your signature - Happy B-Day.

Contact me at boten:) @ :D yahoo.com for my FREE book. (ignore the smilies & blanks in my e-mail address, they are there to prevent "harvesting")

Chester-- Happy Birthday!!! Be careful, the next decades go by VERY quickly!

Do hope you do get to cruise with your Moms in August but my thoughts go out to your Fathers, too. Many prayers.

We have only been back a month and we are already booked for a Mediterranean cruise next May 19 rt Rome on the new Carnival ship Liberty. First time on Carnival but the itinerary is super.

Hope you have a super birthday. Tried the book link. Couldn't get it to work!!!

Veggies all planted yesterday now for some warm temps. Nancy

Congrats on being the first. I'm sure you'll enjoy the book.

My thoughts and prayers are with your fathers, along with the rest of the family. I hope you see a turn-around with your father, and he will get better. There's plenty to be said about the "will" to live. Maybe it will go upward from here.

Happy Birthday chester. I hope you have a good one, and enjoyed a G&T, or two.

Just out of curiousity, exactly what time were you born?

Nancy

As South Africa is ahead of the USA as far as time zones go, here is a belated birthday wish. !955 was an exceptionally good year!!

Thank you for your great epic review!

My prayers go out to you and your wife as you care for your respective fathers. I am blessed to be able to take my parents this year (2 July) on a Millennium Med cruise.

Best wishes

Tiger

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHESTER Turning 50 is not too bad. I did that 8 years ago and one thing is I don't know where those years went. Your fathers will be in my nightly prayers. I hope you have a wonderful cruise on HAL. Thanks for your stories. Pat

Well, I guess it wasn't much of a contest. Boten is declared the official winner, reducing his book purchase obligation from 10 to 9 copies. Congratulations, Boten. Overall, I gathered five commitments – only 1495 to go…

Thanks, Nancy1. Time can’t go any more quickly than it does already, can it? The first few rows of corn came up yesterday. Nothing like a little heat to get things going (except me – I wilted).

Nancy2, the certificate says 7:57 a.m.

And thank you Tiger and Pat - I drove down to Connecticut to see my father yesterday. He was in far better condition than at any time since Easter, and was discharged to a rehab center today. Whatever y’all did, please keep it up.

All the best,

chesterh

Hi Chester

Great to hear the positive news. We'll keep your family in our thoughts.

Tiger

chesterh .... We've enjoyed each and every one of your 50 reviews! You're the BEST! :D

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

Aw shucks, OCruisers. It's been a pleasure. I'll always remember fondly your role as 'publicity agent'.

All the best,

chesterh

Aw shucks, OCruisers. It's been a pleasure. I'll always remember fondly your role as 'publicity agent'.

 

All the best,

chesterh

Many of us had fun with your FIRST review! Gosh, we had folks from all of the ships' CC boards reading it!!! :D

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

OCruisers - yes, those were the days... The first one was certainly fun for me, and I hope the sequels managed to be entertaining for others as well.

So Nancy, did you 'do my charts' or something? When will I win Powerball?

Last call for reading the original Galaxy story online. I will be removing it from my website on June 19 (Father's Day), in anticipation of the amended version in the book.

chesterh

I'm so happy to hear your Dad is doing better. Let's hope he continues to do so!!

I was just checking to make sure the contest was legit....you know me.

I put in my dibs for the book, and by the way, my check will be good. :D

Can't wait to hear about the next cruise with the Mom's. I'm sure this one will be a trip. Hope I remember to move to the HAL board.

Nancy

It's been awhile! Happy birthday, by the way. I hope the news about your respective fathers is good. Jim and I think of you often and hope all is well.

We've got ourselves booked on a new cruise too - Summit to the Panama Canal over Thanksgiving. It should be interesting! Wish you and your lovely wife could join us. In any event, you can be sure are looking forward to your book, both to re-enjoy your escapades and to bring back memories of our cruise on the Galaxy right after yours.

My best to your lovely bride.....

'Abby'

Dear 'Abby',

Always a pleasure to hear from you, and I'm glad to hear of your upcoming cruise. We'd love to go! Send tickets... I do owe you thanks for all of your encouragement early on - it really helped keep me going on the marathon run...

It is miraculous - my father is scheduled to be discharged next week. He is much better, though I can't help but notice that his insurance benefit runs out on the day of his dismissal. He is in good spirits, but very weak. I think we'll have to carry him up the stairs to his room. My parents considered moving to a ranch years ago, but never acted on it. We'll find a way. Thanks to all for the best wishes.

Kris says, "Thanks, and all the best to you, too."

All the best from me,

'chesterh'

Chester

Better late than never on my part. Again many thanks for the marvelous chapters. I, like most, feel as if I personally know you, Kris and the boys. Let us know when the book is available for purchase.

I really like Garrison Keillor and your upcoming cruise ought to be a blast.

My prayers are with you and both of the dads.

Let me know (you have my email address) if you ever decide to do a Princess cruise and I'll fill you in on all the insider secrets.

Best to all, Barb

Thanks for so many hours of wonderful reading and lots of laughs!!! I put my name on the email list and I'm sending an email to Celebrity regarding the book being sold onboard their ships. Hope CC does put it in their online store!!!

Best of luck with the book!!!

Claudia

Always a pleasure, Barb. I do think the next cruise is going to be a lot of fun. I can’t get any of my fellow cruisers to talk about it, though. A more reluctant group would be had to find. My dad is now home and doing quite well—thanks for the wishes. You’ll be hearing from me…

Claudia, thank you very much—that’s very thoughtful. My effort to get permission to display the Celebrity “X” logo on the ship featured in the cover illustration went nowhere, so I had to alter it to look like a “Y”. I’ll send copies to both Celebrity and CC in hope that they’ll carry it, but I’m not terribly encouraged at this point. If nothing else, I’ll have a copy (or a hundred) on my bookshelf, a sense of accomplishment and a story to read to the grandchildren.

Thanks again, and all the best,

chesterh

I’ll need to sell about 1500 books to break even, so if you are willing to order – say, 10 of them – I might make it. Anything left over will go in the cruise fund. If you would like to be notified when the book is available, please send an email to ...

How awesome! I will most definitely want to get a copy of your book when it is available!

I too am a self published author: See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0972335102/qid=1121624300/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-8631088-0760761?v=glance&s=books

Self-publishing is very rewarding. There is something very special about seeing your work in print ... and even if you don't "break even," the personal satisfaction is well worth it.

Good luck on your book sales. I'll be looking forward to a great read!

Blue skies ...

--rita

Thanks, Rita. Skydiving, huh? I don't think I'll get any closer than reading about it--being a big chicken and all...

chesterh

After so much encouragement from so many people, I finally did it. The original Galaxy cruise travelogue has been transformed into a book, which hit Amazon.com on Labor Day (very fitting symbolism). Details are on my homepage (see signature, below).

Kris and I just returned from a cruise with our mothers on Maasdam. What a trip (in multiple senses of the word)! I have started to write it up, but I suppose I'll have to post it on the HAL board where nobody knows me. Nothing like a fresh start…

Thanks to all,

chesterh

... but I suppose I'll have to post it on the HAL board where nobody knows me.

Chester, you can run but you can't hide!!!! Do you really think I will allow your Maasdam review not be know on all of the major CC boards -- especially Celebrity? :rolleyes: Already have a good title for the Celebrity thread: "Chesterh abandons Celebrity for HAL!" :D (Actually, that would attract attention.... ) :rolleyes:

Seriously, best wishes on your book! Can't wait to read it!

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

I have enjoyed your Millenium series and I am looking forward to your book.:)

Cool Chester! I'm going to buy one.

Now, the best part is you can write off the cost of your cruise as research!

OCruisers, I knew I could count on you. I'm going to spend some time launching a grassroots marketing campaign (a copy is on the way to CruiseCritic for review), and write up as much of the Maasdam story as I can before beginning the posts - just to reduce the pressure a little. Thanks for your support.

cvgurl125 and bryanwal, thank you very much as well. It's been a lot of fun. The write-off idea is interesting. I'll have to talk to an accountant, and manage to peddle about 10,000 of the things... Wouldn't that be nice?

All the best,

chesterh