The One I Forgot SMC 2/20/10

Good morning to you all. I apologize for skipping a week, I guess the snow just had me too excited to sit down and blog. Excuse #2 comes in the form of being very busy this month. I probably had the best two week booking period I have had yet as an agent. This week was decent but compared to the first two it was almost a depressing let down. It does amaze me just how the Lord will take care of you though. My grandfather had a recurring back issue flare back up late last week followed by three straight days this week of Dr visits and surgery. Long story short it would have been very difficult to juggle a week like the prior two and do my part to take care of him too. He is doing much better now and maybe next week will be back to normal...so bring on the bookings!
I said at the end of the blog three weeks ago that my next blog would be about people you encounter while traveling. Well about two days after the last blog I realized I lied...sorry. I will pick that up here and try to read my previous blog to make sure I haven't made any promises I need to fulfill. In the three, almost four, years Linds and I have been married we have been on a few trips and every time we run into some interesting people. It amazes me how different cultures and even regions within the same culture tend to act the same. For instance, on our honeymoon we met a group of Canadians on the first day that were extremely friendly. Since then we have ran into several more and had conversations with them with the same result...I like Canadians. One particular group that seemed to get the most eye rolls from me and Linds on this last cruise was the "Yankees". Not because they were unfriendly, but because they feel the need to make sure everyone within 50yds hear everything they say. We were on our transfer van coming back from our excursion in Grand Cayman and we stopped to pick up another family at a different beach. They get on being loud but it's vacation so we are all excited. This kid that I will guess was at least 9-10 years old sits by himself in the seat right if front of me. His mother is about 3 rows back and across the van. I swear I am not making this up, she yells really loud to this kid "hey Michael are you feeling OK?" No problem, kid must have not felt well....until he shook his head yes and she yelled at him no less than 6-7 times in five minutes asking the same question!!! I almost turned around and said he is fine! That was just an example, there were lots and lots of this kind of stuff out of that group, especially at dinner when they felt the need for everyone in the dining room to hear their stories. I will throw this in for the northerners reading, it is predominantly the women doing to loud talking. The next group I have taken note of is of Asian decent. The best I can figure with these folks is they are 50-50. They are either some of the nicest or rude people you will meet. To help define that a little further it seems to me the younger Asians are really nice and polite, it's the older ones that seem to have an attitude. Linds has always loved little Asian children and there was the cutest little girl on the November cruise that we wanted to bring home. We ran into them everywhere and were always looking at her and talking about her so I am sure they are blogging today about the weird Americans that kept stalking them :). Next up, old folks! I hope that I too will be old and grumpy one day, but I ain't there yet. I will say this and then get off of it, if you are in a buffet line setting just get out of their way because by gosh they are going where they want to go and will not move out of your way. Literally we almost got knocked out of the way numerous times trying to get a plate..beware the old hungry folks.
I know you all think I am being a little judgmental and I am, but I also know that someone some where are talking about us rednecks and all the things we do to annoy them...probably rightfully so. Have a great day, Jeremy