I have told a few of you that the boat caught on fire, but that we were okay. I suppose that I should fill you in on the whole story, at least as much as I know, and from my perspective.
We signed up for dinner with different peoples and different times so that we could meet new people from around the world. After the second couple, we took a couple of nights off and just ate at a table by ourselves.
I digress
Friday evening we were sanding in line for dinner. Suddenly, the ship started to shudder and shake. About 8-10 seconds later, the engines started again and off we went. Then the emergency signals started to go off, asking for certain crews to report to certain emergency areas. We found out later that the cooks immediately wiped their hands, and marched out of the kitchen. The emergency signal was sounded three times, about two minutes apart.
We then got an announcement from Captain Jonny - the Norwegian guy who drove the boat. He said that there had been a report of a fire in engine room # 1, so they had shut down engine room # 1 and had switched all the controls to Engine room # 2. All engines were functioning properly but there was an investigation going on in the engine room. Over the next 20 minutes, the fire doors were all closed and the ship started going backwards. We got a few more announcements from the Captain and some other officers, explaining that we there had in fact been a fire, but that it was now out. The crew were all asked to avoid deck 2 so that the appropriate people could finish their investigation.
During all this time, Kayleen and I were most impressed by the professional behavior of all the crew and officers. The people who didn't need to be on deck 2 were level headed and trained in what do do, what to say, and how to act. Some of the passengers did freak out, but Kayleen and I knew that there was nothing we could do to change the situation. As we were eating, the cooks all came marching back into the dining room to rounds of applause.
Seriously, the food was awesome, but I digress again.
The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. We talked about the peace that comes in knowing that should this be the end, we are unafraid to meet our Savior. It was a profound experience in several ways. We were thankful that it wasn't worse. We were fully on the sidelines - no control or influence in any fashion - except to negatively impact the attitudes of the other passengers. It was good for us to recognize and talk about a time - in the future - when we really will go Home. It strengthens my resolve to try to do better, but to remain unafraid of what the next life will bring.
