Earlier this week, we received a most-welcome letter (yes, people still write letters) from long-lost cousins who live in Wisconsin. Marilyn and Lyle were on their way to Fort Lauderdale for a 10-night southern Caribbean cruise aboard the Holland America Noordam, currently sailing to the 
Mediterranean. Their lives have changed in those long-lost years.
“We both use canes and must have wheelchairs at airports and to get on the ship,” wrote Marilyn. “We rented scooters for on the ship.”
How great is that?
The option might be staying at home in Wisconsin, struggling to make a trip to the pharmacy for meds, or the grocery store for food. Day after day. Week after week. Yet here they are, seniors with the often-inevitable physical impediments, turning those struggles into 10 days of peaceful luxury. That’s one of the wonderful things about cruise lines — they all work to make it work for passengers with physical disabilities.
It may not seem like a big deal, until you’re the one who needs the wheelchair and the scooter, or until you know someone who does. So be patient when you’re on a cruise with passengers who have been slowed by time. After all, it might be Marilyn and Lyle.
Is there a story like that in your family? Let us know…