My one fear about cruising alone

You might think I would be afraid of getting lost.  No, that never enters my mind.  Well, maybe then it would be getting bored.  Nope, doesn't happen to me.  Getting sick?  No.  Been there, done that.  They have excellent medical care on ships.

My fear is the dreaded dining room table assignment.  For years I sweated out a table for two (by the windows if possible, please) and we were always accommodated.  Jack's memory problems could create a massive case of indigestion for me if we had recurring seatmates.  It has, therefore, become my habit to check out the table size as soon as possible.

A single cruiser is best off at a large table.  Therefore, that is what I requested on my recent trip.  However, that is also what I requested on my cruise on the Oasis, and I was given a table for one.  When I inquired during the afternoon I was told my table was for six.  Not what I had in mind, but I thought I would give it a chance.  When I was escorted to that table, it was a table for only four, with an older couple already seated.  I tactfully told my escort that this wouldn't work.  He sent me to the  maitre' d's line.

Unbeknown to me, there was a lovely lady just ahead of me in that line who had asked for early seating and been given late.  She was changed and reassigned to Table 178, a table for eight.  I was then the eighth person assigned to that table, and I sat down beside her.  Here we are:

Her name is Rosamma.  I found her to be a fascinating person.  She was born in India but has spent most of her life in Maryland.  She is a nurse practitioner who works for the National Institute of Health (NIH).  She specializes in infectious diseases and allergies.  She loves her job.

My story usually starts with the fact that I lost my husband less than a year ago after a ten-year struggle with Alzheimer's Disease.  Rosamma told me she is a widow, too.  Her husband passed away about six months before Jack did.  The illnesses that took them could not have been more different.  Her husband only lived about three months after being diagnosed with cancer.   They didn't have time for the last trips together like we did.  And she is much younger than I.

At the same moment Rosamma and I realized and acknowledged that our seating was orchestrated by God, not by coincidence.  This was the first trip she had taken without her husband.  She seemed inspired by the fact that I had taken several.  We reminisced about our husbands at length.  She told me on the last night of the cruise how much she had enjoyed the socializing at dinner.  I, in turn, benefited so much by her admiration of my ability to travel alone.  Sometimes I think I must be strange to be able to do so,  or I have feelings of guilt, and to know I actually encouraged her was a huge blessing to me.

If God knows even how many hairs are on my head, why do I doubt that He can place me just where I need to be?   Oh, by the way.  Our table was even by the windows!