Monday, April 14, 2008

The Ferry Ride


As we were sitting on the 9:35 Bainbridge ferry, heading towards Seattle for the Seeds of Compassion event, enjoying the cinnamon rolls that Laura had brought for us, (except Karen who has major issues with gluten), we heard the following announcement: "Does anyone have extra tickets for the Dalai Lama Show? If so please come to the Purser's Office." That struck us as being very funny! Not the ticket part - the "Show" part. What would that look like? The Dalai Lama with a backup chorus of monks singing We are the World?

Well, it just SO happened that Karen had received 2 tickets for an 11:30 event that she hadn't requested. (We were on our way to the 1:30 event at Qwest Field.) We had tried so hard to give those tickets away but there were no takers so we brought them with us in case we had an opportunity such as this. I have to admit - I was feeling just a teeny bit smug! Oh yes! We will save someone's day! We headed over to where a small group was forming outside the Purser's office...hmmm.... there seemed to be others with extra tickets there already....how did we all end up with extra tickets to an event we hadn't even applied for? Who knows? But we joined in...there was lots of talking going on - tickets being exchanged between strangers - more people arriving, others leaving - everyone grateful for the generosity of those with something to give and/or receive......for a moment there it felt like this really wasn't the same old everyday Washington State Ferry at all but The Love Boat! :)


P.S. Extra Credit for anyone who can name the Love Boat characters....

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Calling Captain Merrill Stubeng to the front desk.....I LOVE your story.
Monica

Anonymous said...

What a funny story! I am sitting here laughing with the visual of all of you milling around the Purser's Office. As a kid, I thought the "Purser" was the guy who held the purse and all of the money on the boat!


You're missing the most important character on that show.....Charo!!!!


Here we go, from top left to right:


Yoeman "Purser" Burl Smith otherwise known as "Gopher" - Fred Grandy


Bartender Isaac Washington - Ted Lange


Dr. Adam Bricker - Bernie Kopell


Cruise Director Julie McCoy - Lauren Tewes


Captain Merrill Stubin - Gavin MacCleod


And last but not least, the girl I wanted to be when I was a little girl - Vicki Stubing - played by Jill Whelan. In hindsight, thank goodness I was me and not her!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your “Love Boat story.” We had something like this on our ferry, but a bit different. The first mate announced there was a ticket available, and a cute young man near us excitedly got up to try and snag it. As he was walking toward the office, he saw that someone sitting right by the office had already jumped up and gotten the ticket. He was talking back over his shoulder to his friends and telling him that he was disappointed, but someone had already gotten the tickets. A women sitting by us called him over and said she had an extra ticket and it could be his. He was so excited, he said, “Thanks so much. You’ve made my day. Or rather, you’ve made my year!” He went back to his friends and was “high-fiving” them and talking very excitedly. I love it. You would think it was tickets to a sporting event!

Anonymous said...

From top left Goober, The bartender (ted?), Doc, The captains daughter, Captain Stubing, and Julie the cruise director. Don't ask me how I remember. Terrelou