If Only I Had the Nerve to Have a Body Like That

     Remember the old saying, There's one in every crowd?    Well, in my group of friends, we definitely have that one.   The one that is the center of attention, the life of the party, a bundle of energy and loved by everyone who knows her.  She never meets a stranger and has a heart of pure gold.  No matter what we are doing she can always make us laugh and always make us feel loved.  She is the heart and soul of our circle.  Her name is Brenda.

     Brenda is experiencing a rough time right now, dealing with excruciating pain.  She is facing knee surgery but won't know for a few more days just when and how extensive.   Now it is my turn to hopefully make her laugh.  This story is not only about her, it is dedicated to her.

     As I mentioned earlier, Brenda never meets a stranger and loves to get a laugh.  And, as she herself will tell you, she has more nerve than a bad tooth.  If you don't believe me now, you will by the time you finish reading this post.  Let me show you what I mean:

                                                                                     

 

                                                                                

"Brenda the Bod"                                   

 

     "Eat your heart out girls"

     This is the bathing suit cover-up we bought for Brenda in St. Maarten.    Now, me personally, I wouldn't have the nerve to wear it in public, but for Brenda it was perfect.  She loved it, and not only did she love it, but it soon became the "must see" talk of the whole cruise ship.   She wore it everywhere and everywhere got the same reaction.  She was the hit of the week.  People loved the cover-up and loved her.   

     Brenda has one of those charismatic type personalities that draws people to her wherever she goes, without any props.  But give her something that draws this much attention and she is really the belle of the ball.

      Women, as well as men, all over the ship stopped her to tell her how cute her cover-up was.  They would engage her in conversation and soon she had new friends from every region of the world.   Strange men would come up to her and want their picture taken with her.  In some instances the photographer was the man's wife, who loved it!

     One morning we decided to go to the main dining room for breakfast, knowing there was a dress code.  Usually we only went there at night for dinner.  Libby and I had already gone in so we missed what happened at the door.  Brenda had on her cover-up with white capris under it.  Kelly had on a cover up too with her bathing suit underneath.  Unfortunately, Kelly's cover-up was crocheted so you could see her suit through the holes.  They wouldn't let her in but would let Brenda in with her "shapely body".  Kelly couldn't believe it.  They went elsewhere for breakfast.

     Brenda and Kelly went up to the Windjammer buffet.  Now, this isn't just a small buffet, but instead has various buffets in a circle about the size of a football field.  Somehow, they went different directions and after getting her food, Brenda couldn't find Kelly.   If you remember, I said Brenda never sees a stranger, so, not wanting to eat alone she picked out a nice looking couple and proceeded to sit down with them.  She introduced herself and struck up a conversation.  Inevitably the discussion came around to her cover-up and she told them all the stories of fun and laughter she had had because of it.  She made some new friends from Russia.

     Brenda is a special lady and we all love her very much.  We pray that she will soon be out of pain and feeling like being our life of the party once again.  Until then, maybe we can make her laugh just a little.

Until next time...that's my view.

Kat

Looks Can Be Deceiving (1st in series - Girls Weekend Adventure)

    

     How gorgeous is this cabin?   Looks like the perfect place for eleven women to get away for a girls weekend out...right?  Remember the old saying, "what you see is what you get"?   Well, let's just say that's not always the case.

       When we booked it online the ad said 2 miles out of Pigeon Forge and 3 miles out of Gatlinburg.  That sounded great.   What the ad failed to mention was that was just the distance to the side-road you turned off on.  It didn't count the several miles up the mountain on a less than desirable road.  Let me see if I can even come close to describing that road up the mountain.

     First, turning off the main parkway, we immediately had to make a hairpin turn onto another road.  After several curves, we turned right onto what would turn out to be a long and very unpredictable road.   This road which actually started our descent up the mountain was like trying to follow a pretzel, a roller coaster and a maze, all rolled into one.  Up and down, around corners and sharp turns, over steep inclines where you couldn't see if anyone was coming the other way, all the while steadily climbing higher and higher.  The higher we got the more narrow the road got.  We prayed we wouldn't meet another car.   There were no guard rails or safety barriers along the sides of the road and in places the pavement dropped off sharply, right off the side of the mountain.  There were at least a hundred turns (maybe exaggerated a little) we had to make and the only markers were wooden signs nailed to the side of a tree or post, none of which were lighted, making driving up the mountain at night nearly impossible.  To make things worse, the first 2 days we were there it rained causing wet leaves to cover the narrow road making it extremely difficult to see and very slippery.   But, troopers that we are, we weren't going to let a little thing like maybe driving off the mountain keep us from enjoying our trip.  So, even though our first instinct was to turn around and find the nearest hotel, we slowly inched our way up the winding road.

     Upon making it to the top, at first look we thought we had made it to heaven.  Not quite.   There were 3 levels with 1 bedroom on the main level and 2 each on the top and bottom levels.  Mine was on the lower level, which we soon found out was not the level to be on.  There were 2 major problems which turned out to be connected and were actually the same problem.  Our first clue was the sewage smell.  I'm talking raw sewage.  It was really bad.  Then we hear this noise that sounds like an annoying alarm clock buzzer, only 10 times louder.  It continued to buzz all night long.  When the maintenance men came the next day they discovered the sump pump had shorted out causing both the noise and the smell.  They replaced it with a new one.   The next day we made our way down the mountain for a fun day of shopping.  Late evening returning happy but very tired, we open the door and the sewage smell hits us in the face, followed by the incessant buzzing.  You guessed it...the new pump had already shorted out.  That night we again had to suffer the smell and noise; not very conducive to a good nights sleep.

     Did I mention the bear?   No?   Well, actually, we didn't see him, but a cabin just a few yards up the road had one on their front porch one morning while we were there.   Also, we had been told there were TVs in all 5 bedrooms, but not that 2 of them had been struck by lightening and didn't work.

      In spite of all this...or maybe because of all this, we had the best time you can possibly imagine.  We laughed until we cried.   It was such a great time there is no way I can cram all the stories in one.  Stay tuned for more to come.

Until next time...that's my view.

Kat