The Reality

For some months I've been explaining to curious friends just what a gentleman host does, how I got the gig and where the cruise is going. Almost everyone initially reacts with surprise (that I'm doing such a weird thing), then curiosity (at the details) and finally approval (of this adventure). I'm happy to say that for the most part, and looking at myself from outside myself, I have the same reactions: surprise that I've undertaken such a challenge, curiosity at what to expect and approval of my daring at this time in my life. At a recent dinner party, however, I caught some friends across the table speaking to each other and looking at me in turn, as though contemplating remarks made about me. They weren't smiling so I knew their conversation was serious. I challenged them and they admitted that they'd agreed my upcoming cruise would not be only a lark. "You'll be working," one of them said. "And working hard. We wonder how you'll do." To be honest, so do I. As the day for my departure draws inevitably nearer, I have to admit to some degree of apprehension. There's the not known, of course, pregnant with uncertainty, an emotion not entirely comfortable for a controlling personality like mine. But more than that, there's the known: a daily schedule filled with many activities, a dinner hour in which my charm must never falter and a night of dancing until every guest's desire to dance is spent. I wonder about my stamina. Can I sustain this routine for thirty days? I guess I'm about to find out.