Nathan: A blog by request

What is there to say about a friend who goes beyond the broad hint that he'd like a blog post specifically dedicated to him? Again, I had to tell him: no problems with ego for you! And, truth be told, I just can't do a WHOLE blog just about Nathan. It's my blog...it needs to be all about me, right? LOL

Nathan IS my sassy gay friend. By the way, if you haven't seen the sassy gay friend videos on You Tube, go for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwnFE_NpMsE . And yet, he is much more than a caricature. He combines energy, intelligence, humor and a zest for new experiences. A city boy at heart, he gave himself over to hiking and even camping and enjoyed it all. Our whole department operated on an internal low feeling yesterday because it was a) Nathan's last day at work, b) the day he was to fly out of Skagway, c) the first in our department to leave and therefore d) a symbol of the season's end.

Even though it was a ship day and we had about 170 guests at the hotel staying overnight that were our Cruisetour folks, we closed the desk down so we could all go to the airport with him...even Abby, our boss, went.

There is about 3 feet of carpet to the counter at the terminal, otherwise, that is the whole terminal in Skagway.

It was overcast and windy when we left for the airport 40 minutes before his flight and we all joked, "ha ha...the weather's going to get bad and you won't be able to get a flight out of here...ha ha." His itinerary was a puddle jumper plane to Juneau where he would spend the night in a hotel. Then the schedule called for a 6 a.m. Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle. From there it was Southwest, connecting in Las Vegas, and arriving in Orlando some time around midnight.

All that "ha ha" stuff became "uh oh" as the clouds thickened and 7 minutes before his plane was to depart, the rain started pouring in! Wings of Alaska flies small planes between here and Juneau. Remember, there is no air traffic control and these are very small planes. The man behind the desk was busy gathering information to make his decision.
All flights for the remainder of the evening were canceled. So it was back to the Westmark for the night. Liz finished out the shift and we all met in the lobby at 8 p.m. for dinner. Well, Liz was down the hall in Abby's office and Nathan...not in uniform...no longer working for the company...was behind the desk and had a crowd of about 8 guests with multiple questions. It wasn't until 8:20 that we were able to make our exit and answer the age old question: where do we go to eat?

Duh! The higher dollar restaurant at the Westmark is right there in our lobby. AND we get a 50% discount. Earlier in the day, a guest who had come off the Zuiderdam had reported they'd left their hearing aid on the ship. The ship doesn't leave until 9 p.m., so we contacted the ship. It had been turned in so we returned it to the guest. They were $20 grateful to us and $10 grateful to their cabin steward. We got the $10 and a note to the ship and kept the $20 to put towards our group dinner. Funny how some things all come together!

(Note giant prints of old Skagway and gold rush photos in the background.)

I think if Nathan had actually flown out last night with all of us waiting to say good-bye en masse, there would have been tears. Yesterday afternoon he gave each of us a Christmas ornament:

On the back of each one he had written:

Sales & Service
Skagway, AK
Much love, Nathan

And that was when I came the closest to crying. All of the folks who have been here before say that we're just experiencing what the good-bye time is really like. It's just pooey.

Since I was due for work at 7 a.m., it was logical to get up just a tad early and get him to the airport for his 5:45 a.m. flight this morning. It went off without a hitch. Although he didn't know to look for me (yes, have had multiple texts already!), I stood in the parking lot at the Lynn Canal end of the runway and waved at the plane. Now how many times do you get the opportunity to wave at a flying airplane and know that the people could actually see you if they looked! It's Skagway!

Yesterday was also my last day on the ships. Because our department is now smaller, our schedules and duties are rearranged and I will be on the railroad the next 4 ship days. And because it was my last day on the ship, I didn't really care about keeping a low profile during disembarkation. I had great fun talking to people, telling stories, getting some facts and info out there. Several people have come up to me here at the hotel and thanked me. I was working this morning when the 160+ people departed on coaches for the train yard at 7:30 a.m. The guests really like seeing a continuity of faces from the ship to the hotel and then to leaving the hotel. Several of them thanked me. One woman added that she could see the teacher in me!

Don't we all just want to make at least one difference in one person's life? Mostly we go about our lives and do what we do and do so without expectation of confirmation that we've had an impact. But oh how nice it is when you do get that confirmation. It's not an ego thing as much as an inner peaceful feeling knowing that someone is happier or more informed or more relaxed because of something you did or said. Just a feel good moment.

That said, one more high point of my week...and it was a very high point...is the phone call from Lauren. I grinned like an idiot at Nathan's good-bye dinner because she called just to say she was proud of me for cliff jumping. It really made my day in a big way. But she is just way too much like her father because the very next statement was: "Now you have to go sky diving!" Apples and oranges, folks, apples and oranges. I still don't like to plummet.

After several brilliantly sunny days, it is back to cold and windy. And that's just how August is supposed to be here....except with even more rain than we've had. I've heard that pretty soon I'll be starting to train on the paperwork and operation of the sprinter...a vehicle larger than the 15 person van, but not a coach. Think glorified short bus without looking like a short bus. Or think nursing home vehicle. That will give you the idea of what it is. It's what I'll be doing in September.

My Phoenix job search continues, but am getting some hints that there may be something available. And that's a good thing. With job security being so much up in the air, taking a cruise is also an unknown. If we do, it will be either round trip of Los Angeles to Hawaii, west coast to Ft. Lauderdale via the Panama Canal or a Caribbean cruise out of Tampa or Ft. Lauderdale. Ideally, I'd love that Mediterranean and Holy Land cruise, but airfaire price for that....yeesh!

"Not my chair....not my problem."
"I can't be bothered."
"Correct."
"You just dumb."
"I miss Disney."

......bye Nathan....and thanks for being one more reason to visit Orlando.