Alumni Ball

Tuesday was our Around The World Alumni Ball. It was a chance for all of us, faculty, staff, Life-Long Learners and students to get together to celebrate the finale of our voyage together.

Earlier in the voyage, on our way to Cape Town, the alumni association held a fundraising auction. After attending many an auction at the boys' school back home, I had a plan. I found the item I wanted just as they finished laying out the sheets for the silent auction. The opening bid was $50 but I kept silent. I went to happy hour as the auction continued. I knew my limit and kept calm. Chris and I also attended a parents reception that night hosted by the executive dean and his wife. While we enjoyed cocktails and ordeurves, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, I grew confident of my scheme. I timed it perfectly and with 5 minutes left in the auction, I went downstairs and positioned myself in front of the table which displayed my auction item. With pen in hand, I waited patiently and calmly and socialized with all the other people congregating in the area. I glanced at the current bid...well under my limit. I showed no interest on my face. Then they began the countdown...5...whipped out my pen...4...wrote in bid...3...scratched in my signature...2...someone is yelling"No! No! behind me...1...cabin number...0...paper collected from the table!

I won my auction item! The Staff Captain's table for 12 at the alumni ball! My first thought was to invite our extended family and use that night as our final family dinner. But I wasn't expecting any of them to accept just because I figured they would have already had plans to eat with friends. To my surprise, all but 2 accepted my invitation. It was going to be a great evening!

I should have spent the day packing but I decided it was more important to spend time with my friends that I'd made on the ship. We all did. Jeremy went his way, Chris his own and Ben another. It was a difficult thing thinking that we probably will not see most of these people again. But I'd heard one of the speakers at the convocation for the students that you can determine how important something is to you by the effort you put into it. Important...you'll find a way. Not important...you'll find excuses. Brilliant. I set out to collect contact info.

We gathered at the pool for a family portrait just before our dinner with the Staff Captain. It could not have been a better night. Our ship making its way through the Atlantic Ocean. The sun was setting, there was excitement in the air and a comfortable playfulness often found as a family comes together.

Afterward, sat with Chris and I on either side of the Staff Captain at his table. His name is Kosta. He is from Greece. A big man who can command attention when he needs to but who can also turn on his big teddy bear charm. We had a wonderful time. Everyone was dressed in their very best, the conversation engaging, the wine was flowing, and our 5 course meal was so much better than the cafeteria meals we'd all grown tired of ; )

Afterward, there was dancing in the Union. I lost all the boys at that point but joined some of the students for a few songs. I went back to the cabin to find Ben laying down with a slight fever. I gave him some Tylenol and suggested he go to sleep. It was late anyway. But the dancing in the union was on the closed circuit TV and the more he watched, the more he felt he was missing out. So, Chris took him to enjoy it with his friends for a short while. As soon as he got to the union, he was whisked away by some students headed to the dance floor. He danced with the girls and as Chris readied his camera, he looked up and Ben was gone. We later found out from Ben that he'd been "crowd surfing"! The union was so packed with dancing 20-something year olds and when they saw Ben, they picked him up and passed them around the room over their heads!

But once around the room, Ben headed back to the cabin for the rest of the night. I was disappointed for him that he was not feeling well during the biggest get-together of the voyage. It's the college students that made life on ship so special for us and why the end of the voyage is difficult to accept. But in the end, the heartache of leaving is worth all of the new friendships which caused it.