Four years ago in 2014, the girls and I began a modified hair care regimen. In the midst of that process, I learned that the best way to preserve curls and minimize frizz in naturally curly or wavy hair is to use a 100% cotton tee shirt to dry hair. This is called “plopping,” because you plop your hair into the shirt before wrapping it around your head. For four years with few exceptions, I have dried my hair with a shirt. Yes, that’s important to my story.
The girls, Mom, and I had a marvelous week away on our cruise. We relaxed, we ate well, we walked – a LOT! We saw ancient Mayan ruins, learned how the Mayans made their chocolate, saw an ancient Mayan soccer (type) goal, and swam and snorkeled in crystal clear, sapphire seas.
The second full day of our glorious, week-long cruise, the sun’s beams creeping over the tops of my sunglasses had caused some sore spots on my eyelids. Yes, I had sunburned eyelids. Ouch! My lips were a little chapped, too. I had some chamomile tea in the stateroom fridge for my eyelids (worked brilliantly, by the way!), and I decided to run up to the beverage station to grab some honey and sugar to whip up a quick lip scrub.
That Tuesday – for me, at least – had begun with an hour or so in the weight room before soaking in a hot tub. Then I had to zip back to the stateroom to freshen up before a picture thing with Elsa and Anna, and after lunch, I hung at the pool with my younger daughter and a friend of mine. Now it was time to get ready for dinner. Formal night, so I was taking a bit of extra care with my preparation.
I’d taken a shower and spent a little extra time exfoliating and moisturizing. I had gotten out of the shower and wrapped my hair as usual in a chartreuse (we’re talking bright yellowish-green here, folks!) t-shirt. I threw on some clothes, slipped my feet into sandals, and announced that I was heading up to the ninth deck and would be back shortly. Going from Deck 2 to Deck 9, I opted for the elevator.
You’d think that any one of four people would have noticed I was getting ready to walk out of the room with a bright chartreuse t-shirt on my head and stopped me. But no.
I got into the elevator along with a guy from our deck. He gave me a polite, social smile and a small “hi,” but didn’t say much more than that. About the time he got off on the fifth deck, I realized I still had a shirt on my head!
At this point, I had two choices. I could take the shirt off and look like Medusa, or I could keep it on and own the look. I opted for the second, but not without shooting a text to Peter with an “OMG, you won’t believe what I did!” When my elevator arrived at the ninth deck, I got off, sauntered through the adults only pool area, by the family/kiddie pools and went to the drink station where I got my honey and sugar. Then I strutted back to the elevators, owning my unique fashion statement.
When I returned to the stateroom, I said, “You’d think one of you would have let me know I had a shirt on my head” before busting out in laughter that quickly infected our room. We’re still laughing about that!
Now you hope, when you embarrass yourself in front of complete strangers, that you’ll never have to see them again, and out of a ship of over 2400 people, those odds are pretty decent. But Elevator Guy? I saw him at least twice a day. Of course.
