The Sanduskys are back on the boat, and they are headed for "points unknown" as they continue on with their Alaskan cruise after being in Anchorage for five days with Jenna Whitson and Michael Doucet.
It was hard to say goodbye to Jenna and Michael. In fact, it was harder than we had imagined. We had made two wonderful new friends, and they treated us all like kings. But the time we spent with Jenna and Michael was tempered by the news from Jenna's orthopedic surgeon, saying that her hand would remain paralyzed, and she would probably never regain the use of it or her leg; she would always have to wear a brace on it and walk with assistance. That made me cry, but I tried my best to console both Jenna and Michael as they tried to come to terms with the devastating news.
When they took us to Sitka, some good distance away from Anchorage, we barely said more than a dozen words between the six of us, and it wasn't because we were mad: in fact, we were anything BUT mad; but we were afraid if any of us said anything, the tears would start to fall. Johnny and Ronee' were especially upset at leaving Jenna and Michael; they said that they were very nice and caring people, and they didn't treat them like babies, which was how a lot of people tended to treat Johnny and Ronee' because of their disabilities. They treated them like the 11 year olds they really were, and they let them do whatever they wanted, as long as it was in compliance with both Bill and myself and them, and as long as they didn't wreck the apartment (they didn't; they behaved themselves!).
When we got to the ship yard, we saw our boat, and tears stung our eyes and threatened to spill; we were about to say goodbye to two wonderful new friends (new to Bill and the kids, old to me; I had known Jenna ever since last November, and she had a long, rough recovery; and she had just gotten out of the hospital after being in there for five months), and as many people know, saying goodbye is always the hardest part of any part of a vacation, especially if you make new friends. We all hugged Jenna and Michael and told them we would keep in touch, and they said that they would do the same; and they bade us a continued and safe journey as we continued on our cruise. We then hugged each other and kissed each other before boarding the boat, and it was all we could do to keep from bursting into tears. Bill and I did pretty good, but Johnny and Ronee' were both sobbing openly as they boarded the boat. From the way they were acting, and from the way we must have looked, in terms of long, sad faces, people must have felt that either someone we knew had died or we had just returned from a funeral prior to our returning to the boat.
The last thing we saw before the boat started to pull out was Jenna sitting in her wheelchair and Michael standing behind her; and both were waving. I could tell that Jenna was crying; her face was all crumpled, and I could see the tears on her cheeks. Michael had a smile on his face, but I could see the tears in his eyes, too, and I knew he was fighting back the tears. That would be the last we would see of Jenna and Michael, and I wondered what would happen to the both of them once we left, or if their lives would get any better. Right now, their lives were pretty bad, especially for Jenna, and they were going to need all the help and support they could possibly need as the two of them came to terms with Jenna's phsyical disabilities which would severely hamper the life she once knew.
We kept on looking at Jenna and Michael waving at us until they were nothing but small specks on the horizon as the boat pulled away from the dock and started its northward journey to our next stop on our cruise.
((((Karen))))
I'm not so good with goodbyes either, when I left Melissa's she and I must have cried in each others arms for ten minutes, but we always agreed never to say goodbye instead it's always been Ta ta for now :D
God Bless
Great Write
Michelle R Kidwell
