What A Difference

Mr. Sign and I had such a great time on the Michigan Princess river boat for the Blues Cruise. We attended the same event last year. This event is held every year by a lobbyist group that works with Mr. Sign's place of employment. Usually there are many senators and state representatives on board, but this year they were locked in the capital trying to hammer out a budget (to no avail).

Last year, I went even though I was having gall bladder problems and felt a general malaise. I didn't want to miss a free meal. We watched couples take part in a dance contest but didn't want to draw attention to ourselves.

This year, we ate well and listened to awesome music. We even entered the dance contest, didn't win but had so much fun being part of the crowd. We walked all three decks of the boat and spent much time outside on the outer decks. We talked at great length with the captain who has known us for several years. He explained again how he acquired the boat. He bought it at auction back in the seventies. He came only to purchase the life vests but was the only one there to bid. I think he paid the city $1 for the entire boat including the vests. It had sat empty for 25 years on the Grand River. Captain John took many years to bring her back to her original luster.

Here is one of the staircases up to the 2nd deck.

This was our table.

The Michigan State Rowing Team rowed circles
around us for a good part of the evening.

This was the breathtaking sunset that we
watched from each level of the ship.


The following is a montage of us from last year versus this year.

(Click to Enlarge)

What a difference a year has made in our lives. Last year I never left my seat because I was so afraid people would see me. I didn't prowl around every nook and cranny of the boat enjoying the scenery. I tried to blend as best I could at nearly 400 pounds.

This year, we explored every aspect that we could, running up and down many flights of stairs that could have never been traversed at our previous weights. We danced like fools and had a great time doing it without fear of being noticed.