Friday, March 23rd

I hang out in the spa a lot. The woman’s spa consists of a steam bath, a sauna, a plunge bath, and a hot tub. It is right at the front of the boat and features cozy chairs that look right over the ocean and a fully stocked table with tea, water, coffee, and fresh fruit. The part of the boat with the floor to ceiling windows that juts out? That’s the spa area. I have achieved various states of Zen bliss while reading in the spa, most of which end in me waking myself up with my own snoring.

The spa is usually empty during the day, especially when we are in port, but today was a sea day and it was busier than usual.

I was joined in the hot tub by a blonde woman in her late 50s. We began chatting, and her sister, Kim, came in and said, “Oh, it’s you!” She had seen me in the show the night before and had, for some reason, really taken a liking to me. “I don’t know, there was just something about you – I loved watching you on stage.”
I came to find out that the two women were on vacation with about 22 other women. It was a woman’s retreat for recovering alcoholics who also happen to be practicing members of AA. I then realized why Kim felt a connection to me. I’m not a member of AA or a recovering alcoholic, but I’ve had some pretty low times in my life, and, as happy as I am, there is still a little bit of pain that follows me around wherever I go.

“Religion is for people who don’t want to go to hell,” Lynn told me. “AA is for people who have been to hell and never want to go back.”

I talked to those ladies in the spa for a very long time that afternoon. They made sure to say goodbye to me before they left the boat on Saturday. It is amazing how people who have been to hell seem to find each other, even in the middle of paradise.