I didn't know this rule at the start of the trip, I kind of just made it up because of what we experienced during the coarse of the cruise.
When you start in line to get on the ship, it all begins with many many lines of people in a serpentine that seems to go on forever. This line is just to wait to go through the checkpoint for security. When we finally got to the x-ray machine and metal detector, we had to wait for Leila to get through due to her pacemaker. We waited several minutes for that before proceeding to the next serpentine line to wait to check in with the cruise line. When I stepped back into that line, I noticed the same couple was right in front of me who had been right in front of me before. I thought we had taken a long time with Leila. I commented to them that is was like a person who speeds to get to the red light at the same time as you. We chuckled and then began introducing ourselves to each other and sharing where we were from, etc. As we talked and walked through the serpentine line, all of the sudden we were in front of them. Larry asked me how we got in front of them. Kathy told him that I was sneaky and I just befriended people to get ahead of them in line.
Larry said, "See that guy up there?" as he pointed to the third person from the front of the line. "I'; give you $5 if you can get in front of him." Game on!!!
I bent over and climbed under the straps dividing the lines and popped up in front of another couple. They didn't see where I had come from and I just started chatting, introduced myself, asked where they were from, etc. I kind of looked back to see what the "group" thought of my antics. They were all laughing hysterically. I then kindly explained that I had butt in line on a dare and that I was really with that group of laughing people.
They seemed unimpressed with the whole event and then when we got just up to the opening to be called to the window, the man (and I never got his name) said to the security person, "Ma'am, this woman butt in the line!" as he pointed to me.
The woman looked at me sternly and said, "You, go stand in that corner!" We all got a good laugh at that. Larry never came through with the $5, well, actually, he did. I'll explain that later in the story.
We got on board. We found some food. We sat by the pool and just started enjoying the whole thought of being on a ship and on vacation; looking forward to seeing multiple artists perform. That night, on the program was John Crist and Steven Curtis Chapman. When we were able to, we went to our cabins to get ready for dinner. We had a lot to learn about the rules of cruising and how to navigate the concerts, etc.
We went to formal dinner in the dining room and were sat at a table with three other couples, ten at a table, not great for conversation. The couple next to me were a bit back woodsy and she did not converse, if a question was asked, he answered it. The other two couples kind of conversed amongst themselves and it wasn't the greatest of dining experiences. But, we moved on. We realized when we got done that time was tight to make it to the concert in time and get a descent seat. So, we discussed skipping formal dinner then next night in order to make it to the concert in time.
Somehow we got separated between the concerts. One was at 7pm and the next at 9pm. Kathy and I went looking for Leila and Renee, we found Renee who was heading for the cabin, but we never found Leila. We assumed she found a seat in the concert of Zach Williams and Jordan Feliz and since we had looked and looked for seats to no avail, we opted to go sit at the pool and wait for something to happen.
While we were sitting there, there was a group of people across the deck from us. They started calling out to a guy, "Hey, Danny!!" The guy was dark haired, glasses, beard...for sure Danny Gokey. after all, they called him Danny. So, I decided to go ask. It was not, but it was Plumb's manager and she was sitting right there near me, he pointed her out. Since Ryan had seen her in concert and said he really liked her, I wanted to tell her that. We began a conversation which lasted probably 30 minutes and she just poured herself into our lives and ministered to us in such a special way, it was truly providential that we were there with her. She prayed with us and shared her life and trials that she had gone through and just ministered to us in our need. It was so incredible and great that we missed a concert in order to be ministered to in such a meaningful and genuine way.
Jared Emerson painted on the pool deck. So, we watched that.
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