People we have met...

Time to catch up on people!  I was writing my blog in the bar a couple mornings ago when a very nice older gentleman started asking questions about what I was doing.  Every time I said anything, he laughed.  Good start.  And finally his wife asked if we would like to have dinner with him that evening.  Of course, we said.  Turns out he is the rabbi for the ship and he invited me to his Friday night services.  He is a rabbi emeritous in Skokie, Ill., went to NYU in New York and met his wife on a trip to Israel 50+ years ago. We watched him for the rest of the day!  He had his hand out greeting everyone from the Filipino waiters to the captain, always positive and friendly!!  He has a son with six children living in Israel, and two daughters. I was so impressed to see how people reacted to him!  What did I learn?  I learned that, if you approach people with a positive curious and friendly attitude, they will respond in kind.  If you are grumpy and standoffish, they will also respond in kind.  Good life lesson!!   

During the evening I told him I had always been drawn to Judaism.  He suggested I consider it in my future.  Told him I couldn’t.  I had voiced my interest to Betsy, my daughter and she had promptly said, “Mom, you’d have to give up bacon!”  That, my friends, is my biggest obstacle.  I LOVE bacon.  No can do!!!

Also had dinner last night with a couple from Greenwich, Ct.  He is an orthodontist and still practicing there, although he is 77 years old.  Every port we are in he has arranged a private car and guide, as his wife had back surgery and he wants to take good care of her.  SUch devotion!After some of the hikes we’ve made with the shore excursions from the boat, I think he is a VERY smart man.  Puff..puff!!

When we were in Odessa, we stopped for a pre-arranged lunch at a local restaurant where they gave us borscht, meat rolls, toast with caviar (no, not the expensive kind), and crepes for dessert.  Sitting next to me was a delightful lady from New Jersey and her husband. We had instant karma -- and turns out we had more than just karma!  We had similar situations with our sons!  First, about the husband... He runs a factory that has long been in his family that does seats and soft trim for boats, cars, motorcycles, golf carts, etc.  They had two kids, now grown.  Their daughter was adopted and hearing impaired.  Then found out she had Asbergers as well!  Their son married and got so angry with them that he did not have much contact with them for FIVE years!  Doesn’t that sound familiar.... World is really small.  Now he is divorced and remarried with twins and lives 5 minutes from his parents, helping his father in the family business -- and is the 4th generation to do that! How are family relations now?  Perfect, she says!  And how are our family relations?  Perfect, I said!!

Today we met a retired historian who was the director of the presidential libraries.  Initially he worked as an archivist at the Truman presidential library.  Then, for 23 years, he worked as the head man at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.  He was a very unassuming man, but full of knowledge about the presidents and history.  And history is my love, as you well know.  AND he goes to Osher Lifelong Learning at the University of Texas.  He retired in Austin, Tx. after leaving the Carter library!