08-06 Cruising with the Raes

Although David Rae was part of a group of children who met and became friends in 1943 at Forest Hill Public School, we had met previously for a short period going to school on Centre Island in grade two. It was a time when my parents were in the process of moving, and our home on Bowie Avenue was not ready for occupancy.
In 1992, the four of us, David and Marilyn and Mary and I went for a one week Caribbean cruise out of Ft Lauderdale on the Sky Princess. I love the captions on the photos taken by David. The first one shows us having a ball.
We had not become great cruisers at that time, but I cannot remember a cruise where we did so much laughing. Mary was no exception.
Marilyn is shown in a beautiful shot outside St. Thomas. The weather was perfect and our stops in St. Martine and St. Thomas were all you really needed for a Caribbean cruise. Princess became our favourite cruise line over the years.
David's sense of humour and creativity show up in the captions. At the start of every cruise, you have to go through a process of trying on your life preserver.
We were joined at the dinner table by a German-Canadian couple, Bill and Helen Hildegard from British Columbia, and the safety officer Tony Yeomans, who later became a Princess Captain.
Bill had been a Luftwaffe pilot in WW2, and when we were casually talking about David’s years living in London, I asked Bill if he had ever seen London, and he replied, “Only by air.” I thought that was pretty funny at the time.
David and I made Tony an honourable Canadian Admiral and gave him full command over our fleet of canoes and rowboats. Good fun.
We went to an evening of Karaoke and discovered David with a great singing voice. He chose “Red River Valley” as his song and did us proud.
“So come sit by myself if you love me. Do not hasten to bid me adieu. Just remember the Red River Valley. And the cowboy that loved you so true.”