Bon Voyage

In the early 70s, my husband went on a cruise he was awarded by the Kelvinator company for high sales in appliances. We had four young children, so I stayed home and held down the fort. Our red-haired son, Trevor, was just a baby, maybe 18 months old. This same son has just returned from his first cruise with his wife and family, including a red-haired son of his own, Bradley, and older son Kyle.

Trevor had heard Howard talk about his cruise over the years; we even had old home movies of it: jerky photos of smiling passengers in deck chairs, island shops in resort towns and lots of green mountains along the horizon as filmed from the deck of the Norwegian cruise ship Starward. Trevor must have been having a moment of nostalgia, for last night he sent us a link to the Starward. (Back then, a link would have been in a chain stored maybe in the engine room.)

It was a link to past, for sure. The ship has changed names about four times since then, being sold to other lines as companies collapsed or disbanded. When I asked Howard if he noticed any similarities between the pictures of the ship, Ecstasy, Trevor had shared and the ship he was on, he shook his head. Apparently today’s cruise vessels are a lot more glitzy, if the lights, marquees and atriums are any indication.

Trevor had said he was a little worried that his sons would be bored on a cruise, (as in his words, "they are so spoiled,” as most kids are today). But they didn’t look bored to me, as they clambered past “Do Not Climb Above Mast” signs, drank fruity drinks with little umbrellas, wound themselves through the spiral staircase of a lighthouse, viewed crocodiles or perched in odd nooks all over the ship. I think their favorite place was high on a deck with a gigantic water slide and chute which extended far below.

Now that they are back, Kyle is in Hobbs New Mexico with his ministry group. I’m sure he has a lot to tell them about his trip, and I’m sure his vistas have been expanded. We are praying that as both boys grow in life experiences and spiritual opportunities they will mature into the men of God He wants them to be, guided by a wise and caring earthly father, one who enjoys sharing a link with his dad.