This, Too, Will Pass

Dearest Rachel –

At a top speed of twenty-five knots, you might be able to guess that, as the Serenade of the Seas moves through the water, it generates a fair amount of wind against my balcony door. And for whatever reason, the door doesn’t seal tightly, causing a bit of a rattling noise when the ship is going at top speed, or it’s dealing with a cross wind; I’m not sure which it is, but it’s certainly enough.

Normally, this wouldn’t be much of an issue for me – I can sleep through a lot of noise and other such distractions, as you might remember – but at the moment, this cold that I’m still in the middle of fighting off is keeping me from staying asleep for any significant length of time. As a result, my attention is focused on the rattle of the door against its frame whenever I wake up, making it that much harder to fall back asleep again thereafter. This is compounded by the fact that, as of this morning, we’ve been plowing into westbound headwinds of some eleven or twelve meters per second, which translates to about 25 more miles per hour in addition to whatever speed we’re heading east at.

So, we’re talking about quite a lot of noise being made by my balcony door for the time being – and that much less sleep I’m getting because of it.

The good news is that, as with all things, this eventually passes – even the fact that, for about an hour this morning, I watched from the Crown Lounge as a torrential downpour drenched the pool deck and sheeted against the panoramic windows. Once I finished my coffee and returned to my room, however, the rain had already stopped (although I arrived just in time for I Komang to knock on my door – wait, but he’d already made up my room – to ask me to let in a maintenance worker do some cleaning on my balcony, per a notice I’d received the previous evening). Likewise, with the rain (and whatever else was included in that weather system) now behind us, the wind has apparently settled down as well, and the rattling of the door is no longer an issue. Once the maintenance guy was done – and he took considerably less time spraying down the area compared to his last visit three weeks ago – all was quiet in the room, apart from my occasional sniffling. Hopefully, though, this too will pass as well.

To be sure, I wish this had happened during the night, allowing me to get a little more sleep when I was actually trying to, but as we’re still at sea today, I suppose there’s no harm in simply napping during the day, in order to catch up. We do have both today and tomorrow to sail through before we land in Lombok, after all. With any luck, I should be sufficiently recovered to be ready to do my usual run around the town (and hopefully study up on the place beforehand, assuming I can work up the motivation, as well as the strength).

That’s most of what I have for you at this point, honey. My sleep-deprived brain actually came up with another topic throughout the wee hours of the night, but upon reading the thousand or so words I dictated in the cold light of day, I’m not sure they should see that light any time in the near future. It’s a topic that would give me a headache even if I wasn’t feeling sick at the time my mind came up with it; sometimes, I wonder what it’s trying to do to me. But as a result, I set it aside for later, in order to give you a further update on my condition. I know, it’s a pretty light letter, but that’s how things go sometimes.

For now, though, all I can ask is that you continue to keep an eye on me, and wish me luck. I’m still going to need it.