Randy Suits

Butchart Gardens – The Final Day of Our Immaculate Cruise

Eve, my cruise mate,

I remember the morning of day seven, when we rose early so we could go to breakfast and fill our last cruise day with activity. We wanted a full service meal in the dinner ball room. You requested a table near the windows so that we could see the bright sunshine and calm seas. After eating we had planned our morning walk around the seventh deck promenade but you found a room nearby where every item was closeout and you simply had to stop. There were several of us orphaned husbands waiting in strategically placed chairs just outside in the ship coffee shop. You found a few ‘almost free’ items which we would have to stuff into already overstuffed baggage. No worry. You are a master at packing. We took our booty to our room, took our morning walk on the seventh deck and hastily proceeded to the fourteenth deck. Our captain announced that we would have an unheard of seventh 100 percent visibility day and arrive at Vancouver, British Columbia at 7:00 PM. It was a day of complete relaxation and pleasure with a not so surprisingly large light lunch. With so much selection of entrees, salads and desserts, a taste of those things you may never taste again adds up to many calories. But it was our last day we told ourselves. As much as you like to swim, we did not go to the pool nor did you sun herself. We mostly walked and talked. At our 5:30 PM dinner we chatted and traded stories with the other couples at our table. All agreed that the cruise was greatly above their expectations. Soon after dinner, we disembarked for our Butchart Gardens tour.  You were in a gardeners dream come true and I had to guide us through the garden when when you got lost in the imagery or studied the flower bed arrangements. It was perfect end to a perfect day on a perfect seven day cruise. In the final analysis it was not the perfection of the weather, the scenery or the romantic escape that made our vacation so memorable. It was the divine aspect of a brief escape from the hum drum of daily life with each other. The next day we would return to our home and resume the wonderful routine of love to which we have become accustomed in our years together. The final day of our immaculate cruise brought no regret, rather the consummate feeling of fulfillment. It reminded me of the scripture, ‘God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy for on it He rested from his work of creation’. In similar fashion we rested on the seventh day of our cruise from our off ship excursions. Our remaining stop at Butchart Gardens was pure heaven to you Eve, a rest of sorts. We give thanks to God for his traveling mercies and ask for a continuation of our days in an immaculate daily walk with Him.

Our daily cruise through life has been better than our perfect Alaska cruise, Kochany