Cruise 1995

Age: Nineteen

As we stood in line to board the cruise ship, I knew that I should be smiling from ear to ear. I was not. I had just been dumped…and was not happy about it. I was never in love with the guy—not even close. It just hurt that someone didn’t like me anymore. It was the kind of thing that knocks a person into an insecure, unhappy state of mind. Well, the guy sure had crappy timing, because there I was on a family vacation to the Caribbean of all places and stuck in my insecure, unhappy state.

My mom did her best to get me excited by explaining the many wonderful adventures we were about to share in the next week. I humored her with an occasional fake smile but she knew what I was doing. Strangely enough, it satisfied her anyway.

After a painful wait period, we finally boarded the ship, found our rooms, and set out on an exploring exhibition.

I tried to focus on the beauty of the ship and the smell of the ocean rather than my dumped disposition. Then, something caught my attention, rather someones caught our attention. My sister and I spotted two guys about our age. Hmmmm….maybe this trip would be more interesting than I thought.

Then, as if out of a movie script, the two guys approached us and introduced themselves as two cousins from Missouri—two drunken cousins, I might add. I cannot remember if their parents paid for their trip or not, but they were alone and making the best of it. They were also huge 6’4” or 6’5” and good looking as well. Slowly my mood began to change. Maybe this trip was just what I needed to get out of my funk.

We hung out with the guys for a little while, exchanging small talk and flirtatious glances, but soon we noticed the time and had to say good-bye. We were to meet our parents and younger sisters back at our room and get ready for dinner. Shelly and I laughed all the way back to our room. We were on a ship with two cute guys for a week—how exciting!

My entire family dressed up in fancy attire and headed down to dinner. We looked fabulous. And the best part: I was nineteen and of legal drinking age in the Caribbean, and my parents allowed it! I could not believe it. So I took full advantage of my newfound freedom by ordering drinks from time to time and feeling “cool” as I placed my orders.

After dinner we said good-bye to our parents and set out to find our new Missouri boyfriends. And luckily, they were on a mission to find us as well!

As fate would have it, on their way to seek us out, my parents found themselves in the same elevator as the Missouri guys and overheard them say, “Let’s go find those Minnesota girls.” My parents looked nervously at one another feeling pretty certain that “the Minnesota girls” were their teenage daughters.

We did eventually find them at a poolside bar, and their twosome had grown. The new guy was some random they met who was roughly their same age and who looked like Sylvester Stallone. We called him Sly for the rest of the week.

The guys bought Shelly and me some drinks as we got to know each other. Then we moved from the bar to the dance club where we danced all night. We had so much fun and felt as though we had known each other for years.

The morning came soon enough and my family and I found ourselves fighting for lounge chairs. These were highly sought after items. If you got to the deck too late, good luck sunbathing that day.

My parents had heard about the Missouri boys all morning and were on guard. Now that I have kids, I realize how stressful that trip must have been for them. They were trapped on a ship with teenage daughters and teenage boys who wanted to hang out their teenage daughters. Oh man, I bet they questioned their choice of vacation the entire trip.

As soon as we settled ourselves into our lounge chairs, we spotted the guys and they were not shy. They came right over to us and introduced themselves to our family.

Even though my parents were skeptical about two teenage boys hanging around their daughters, they found the guys to be friendly, good-natured and likable.

After our family “meet and greet,” the pool and hot tub were calling our name. We sunbathed and conversed all day long. Joe, one of the Missouri guys, had obviously never heard of sunscreen because he ended up burning his feet so badly that they must have shed three different layers of skin. The poor guy! His skin was much too light to forget sunscreen. I also remember him sitting on the bottom of the pool. Seriously, he jumped into the pool, sank to the bottom and sat there for a long, long time. We had no idea what he was doing down there. Then too much time passed, so his cousin Brad dove in and saved his drowning ass.

On top of his antics, Joe was also infatuated with my sister and could care less that she had a boyfriend at home. He followed her everywhere, finding any excuse to be near her. Shelly enjoyed his company but was mostly interested in just having a good time on vacation. Brad and I, on the other hand, seemed to like each other yet were both a bit distant on the attraction front.

Then one night, while we stood on the edge of the boat watching waves, Brad and I realized we had an unfortunate similarity. We had both been dumped before the cruise. We looked at each other and laughed; what a couple of sorry asses. It bonded us, though, and we each slowly let our guard down.

He was actually a pretty sweet guy. I remember going to a midnight buffet one night and he de-shelled my shrimp for me, and I hated de-shelling shrimp! It grossed me out, and yet I love shrimp, so a seemingly small gesture like that truly melted my heart.

I thought about him that night when I went to sleep. It was nice to feel happy about a guy again. Being dumped and feeling depressed was so overrated.

The rest of the cruise was fun and flirty. Although there seemed to be nothing more than hanging out when it pertained to my sister and Joe, Brad and I continued to have a connection.

The last night of the cruise, Brad and I sat on lawn chairs together. We talked about everything and anything while gazing at the starlit sky, focusing mostly on the big dipper. It was huge and right on the horizon in the Carribean.

I mentioned to him that after the cruise, my family planned on staying in Florida for a few days then would head back home. And crazy enough, we were going to have a layover in St. Louis, Missour.

His ears perked up. “We will meet you there.” He said.

“What?” I questioned.

“If your family is going to stop in St. Louis, we will meet you there. Joe and I live thirty minutes from the airport.”

Butterflies instantly soared through my stomach. “Okay, that would be so cool.” I replied. Then my heart smiled.

We eventually said good-bye without a kiss. I know, I know, such a romantic setting and no kiss. I felt a bond with us though, only time would tell if I was right.

I told my sister about Brad and Joe meeting us in Missouri and she was so excited. I actually felt bad for my mom and dad at that point, because all we could think about during our time in Florida were the memories from the cruise and the chance meeting in St. Louis. Sounds just like a movie doesn’t it?

Even though the boys were chasing after my parent’s girls, my parents liked them. They found them to be genuine guys and really hope that they would keep their word and meet us in the airport.

Then it was judgment day. I remember sitting in the airport with knots in my gut. Would they show? Did they have as much fun as we did? I tried to prepare myself for disappointment because these things don’t really happen in real life but I really wanted to see them. My eyes were continually scanning the crowd when, wouldn’t you know it, through the thick sea of people, we spotted two huge guys holding a sign that read “Haider Family Fan Club.”

The smile on my face must have been priceless. They showed up! We all laughed, including my parents. They were guys who kept their word, or cousins who fell for sisters, the bottom line was that they showed up and we were ecstatic.

That bold gesture was the beginning of a three year relationship for Brad and me. Our time together was real and it was good. He was a great guy then and I can only imagine that he is still a great guy now. Here’s to young, innocent love. I’m so glad that I was lucky enough to experience it.