In Sync . . .

February 9, 2012

This blog entry has nothing to do with a boy band from the turn of the millennium. It has to do with a certain biorhythmic connection that seems to happen when people live and work together for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for weeks on end. Although we all retire to our own cabins at the end of the day, there seems to be an almost mystical connection that takes place when you live and work in such intimate proximity.

I recognized this strange phenomenon about three weeks into the cruise. I had experienced a rough night sleeping. Generally, I sleep well, rocked gently to sleep in the arms of Mother Ocean. But that night, despite a fairly gentle sea, I laid awake for a good part of the night. When I reached my office at approximately 8:30am, I mentioned this to Laura who arrived only minutes later. She commented that she, too, had a difficult time sleeping. We hypothesized that since our cabins are only separated by less than 10 meters there may have been some unnoticed disturbance that we had failed to identify but which had kept us awake. That made sense to us until I checked in with Yez and Dwight who informed me that they had similar problems, and they ‘live’ on Deck 2, four decks and half a ship’s length away from Laura and me.

Almost a week later, I was blessed with a nighttime of strange dreams. No one should share the absurdity of their dreams, if they are wise. But I’m not always wise. And halfway through the next day, I traversed the few feet to Laura’s office and shared my bizarre nocturnal stories. After hearing my recitation, Laura then shared that she had a similar set of twisted tales that had invaded her dormant subconscious. You guessed it, when I met with Dwight and Yez, the pattern prevailed.

Okay, maybe there is a lunar cycle that affects such things, but seriously, does it control injuries as well?  Three days later, while changing uniforms, I noticed an unexpected and unexplained bruise on my arm. It was significant, and I should have known when I incurred the injury. However, I had no idea how I had earned this badge of honor. Okay, you are ahead of me and have fast forwarded to the end of the story. Laura, Yez, and Dwight all showed me similar, though not exact, injuries which had occurred unexpectedly in the previous 24 hours. Even Bruna, our Marine Admin, weighed in with a similar injury. I was frightened at this point to inquire of Bruna about sleep patterns or dreams over the previous fortnight. I knew what the answer would be.

I won’t try to explain it, and can’t give you a reason. But the pattern has repeated several times in diverse ways.

Without explanation and without reason the pattern continues. I’ll accept any reasonable analysis from those of you who think you can explain this  . . .

And the adventure continues . . .