Joining the Movement

**Warning: The following post is not for the prissy and modest who are easily grossed out. Proceed at your own risk. (Or just scroll all the way down and look at today’s pictures.) Also, if this happens to be your first visit to my blog, I apologize! 

Every family has it’s own quirks. You, as an outsider, can get a glimpse of these oddities by joining them for dinner one night. If you were to join my family for dinner you would quickly see that we only drink water with dinner, we say the table prayer at the exact same time without any prompting, we never fully unwrap the foil from our baked potatoes because Dad will start a foil ball fight. Afterwards the kids clean the table and do the dishes. Dad puts the leftovers in tupperware. And Mom doesn’t have to do anything because she cooked. Of course now that we’re all grown, this isn’t a nightly ritual anymore. But on the rare times we are all together, we pick right back up where we left off. 

The Saturday before we left on the cruise my mom and I picked up my sister and her sweet friend, Lauren, from the airport and went to the Rice game. It didn’t take long for Lauren to realize what a strange family we were. As we settled into our seats at Reckling with our delicious Prince’s hamburgers I said,  “Oh Lindsay, I picked up some poop pills yesterday on the way home from work.” With a slight glance towards Lauren and a small smirk she said, “Oh good. So mom and I won’t need to get any.” Oh right, it’s not always polite to talk about poop in front of strangers. But Lauren isn’t a stranger. I had met her once before. And certainly Lindsay has broken the ice on this subject with her? They were roommates and teammates after all. Oh yes, but I am not Lindsay… so she may not be comfortable with me just yet. So I did what seemed like a good idea at the time… I explained further. “You see Lauren, I went on a cruise for my honeymoon and, well, I didn’t poop all week. I just can’t take that risk again. Not when there is so much food available. But don’t worry guys, these pills I found promise a movement within 6-12 hours of taking it. Thank God!” 

I can only imagine what was going on in Lauren’s head. The poor girl. Probably thinking “I gave up a week in Cozumel with my friends to go on a vacation with Lindsay’s nasty sister who talks about poop???” I’m sorry Lauren… Yes, you did. And if only that were the worst of it… you hadn’t even met my husband or brother yet! 

After our discussion at the ballpark, my sister decided that “movement” would now be our choice word. It definitely sounds more graceful and ladylike. It took on a whole new life when I saw a guy in the pub on the ship wearing a black shirt that said “JOIN THE MOVEMENT.” I laughed to myself and wondered how I could get my hands on a shirt like that! 

On Tuesday afternoon, all 8 of us were sitting at “our table” in the Windjammer, eating a late lunch. I have no idea how the topic came up but it once again turned to bathroom talk. Comments were flying all around the table. I shared that my stomach was much better on this cruise than the last. My dad had visited his “reading room” an appropriate amount of time. Stephen shared that he was having no trouble and had gone 8 times. (We had only been on the ship 2.5 days at this point… I swear that man eats in his sleep!) I’m not sure what Justin told us but I’m sure it was in a volume far too loud. Even Laura and my mom shared. I looked at our “guest” and said, “Well. Lauren. Have you moved?” This is how I envision her thought process during that pregnant pause: Seriously? Why would she ask me that? Is she some sort of psycho? What’s wrong with this family anyways? I thought Lindsay was normal. I have to answer though. If I don’t their liable to get mad and throw me overboard. Or worse, Justin will talk even louder at me and say something embarassing like “Yeah Lauren, have you crapped yet?” Oh gosh. What do I do? What do I dooo? 

She looked up with a cute grin and in a soft voice said, “Yes. I’ve moved.” And with that, she was part of the family. 

And here are some pictures for today: 

Look how cute and not disgusting Lauren is! Oh and also, look at Lindsay's awesome hair! Sweet!

 Here are some more pictures. For Jim: So you know that we aren’t always dressed up. For Lyndsey: To make you happy. For Sarah (O): Because you asked me to post some even before we got back!

It was overcast and windy when we got to Costa Maya. Of course I was cold. Don't worry though, I still had some cold beverages!

Stephen and Justin with the sea creatures! All of the British people from the other ship were too scared to touch them. (Yeah okay, so was I AT FIRST!)

 

Laura, Stephen, and I during our mini-golf game. Jim, this is on the ship. See, cruises are awesome!

 

In Costa Maya. Our ship is the big one in the background. The water was pretty choppy that week, I can't imagine how bad it would have been on the smaller ship!