A History Of Nerdy Nightly. Part 2.

This past week recovering from surgery has been an absolute roller coaster. I won't go into any details, I'm sure no one wants to read about the myriad ways throat pain can manifest after a tonsillectomy, but I am getting better every day and that is all I can really ask for. The "part 2" in the title implies a first part. I recommend reading that first, but if you don't want to there's nothing I can do to stop you.

Enjoy part 2.

It is at this point in the story where I am no longer the sole protagonist in the plot. Despite mentioning Arrielle at the beginning of part one, and not again until mentioning that she would appear here, this is not her entrance into my personal story. She and I actually met eleven years ago, in the late summer of 2009. We had been Young Canadians together, members of a performing arts group in Calgary, and we had been friends but not lovers. Despite what people think now, we hadn't been romantically inclined towards each other in high school. We keep getting asked that question, and I know deep down we will keep having to answer it.

Arrielle had booked the same production of Jersey Boys I had, and announced it on social media late last year. Despite not being close, we had followed each other online over the years, and we were both over the moon to be heading into this adventure at sea with a familiar face. Upon arriving to Tampa on January 2nd to start rehearsals we immediately became attached at the hip. We spent most nights with our friend Madison, and the three of us were rarely seen apart. There was clearly a connection between Arrielle and I through all of this, and just before getting on the ship I realized I had fallen in love with her.

It was January 27th, our final day off before getting on the ship, and by virtue of our proximity to Orlando we were obsessed with getting to Galaxy's Edge. The new Star Wars land was a dream finally within reach, and a member of our cast was a Disney employee with an incredible hook up. We went, eleven people in two cars, with a resort booked and a crazy idea. We were going to be in the park by 5:30am so that we could hopefully get in the digital queue for the new Rise Of The Resistance ride. The full account of that day will be presented as a follow up to this that Arrielle and I plan to write together. The important thing relating that tale to this one is I spent 14 hours in the park, crying at how amazing Batuu was while desperately trying to not scream into that imitation of a galaxy far far away that I was in love with her every time she smiled at anything. Disney being the happiest place on earth, she smiled a lot.

Also we did ride Rise Of The Resistance that day. It's the greatest ride ever. I cried like a baby. No spoilers, just find a way to get on it.

Days later we left Tampa for New York where we would be embarking for six months of bliss on the Norwegian Bliss. Get it? We had one day free in the city I called home, and Arrielle had never been, so I was determined to show her everything I could. That may sound like a date, but the truth was there were barriers between us, and starting something romantic didn't seem possible. For one she lived in Toronto, and I lived in New York. Starting something felt like it had to be serious from the beginning or it wouldn't be worth ruining our friendship over. Instead we platonically ran around New York all day, and saw both parts of Cursed Child on Broadway. It was almost as magical as our day at Disney and I was struggling with how to proceed in our friendship.

We boarded the ship the next day, and began the most insane two weeks of my entire life. We woke each morning for ship classes, followed immediately by show rehearsals. There were tests, and safety drills. One morning we had to be up for immigration five hours after finishing a tech rehearsal. It was a stressful, and manic period and we were all a little on edge. Arrielle and I were literally never apart for any of it. A big reason for that was that she was absolutely hopeless at finding her way around the ship, and honestly finding her way around in general. The girl can not read a map. I was her guide and she was my rock, and we got through it together.

So I told her I was in love with her.

We were outside eating gelato on Deck 8, "our" spot from the very first day on board. We had been talking around things for days, and I just couldn't anymore. I blurted it out, and we sat with it for a while. Arrielle left me with nothing that day in return, just a promise that she would respond soon. The weekend was agony, between the insane schedule for the show and ship duties, and the sudden disconnect with the person I'd felt molded to for the last few weeks.

I pitted out every shirt I brought on the ship in those next four days. We ate all of our meals together, had rehearsal together, and after each long day sat down and watched a movie huddled together in our cabins that barely fit one. We managed to talk and talk without acknowledging the elephant sucking all of the air out of our tiny cabins. I learned a whole new definition for the term patience. It is probably apparent that she did eventually say it back, and we've set a course for lightspeed ever since.

For five weeks we dated on the ship, getting dressed for fancy dinners for two and sharing a room smaller than a double bed. This bliss that came promised in the name of the ship had found us, and we began making plans for the future. There's an old adage in the theater that if you would like to book a gig, book a vacation. We were looking further down stream than any couple of just a few weeks should be, and Covid-19 just laughed.

When we stepped on the ship on February 2nd the virus felt worlds away. The reports out of China were sad, but warranted little more than a "did you hear?" kind of conversation. One month later it was the first and last conversation you had every day. It's hard to even remember those conversations, every one filled with rumor and speculation but no real foundation. No one at any level knew what was going to happen, and we were living in a tin can filled with recycled air.

Then the Diamond Princess got it, and everything went wild. They were on the news all day, and we were glued to it wondering if we were next. We still had guests on board, trying to enjoy their vacation, and we were just trying to figure out how much longer we were going to be employed. A rumor that we were going to be kept on board for thirty days with no guests started to spread, and so Arrielle and I spent a whole day in Cape Canaveral, Florida stocking up on every snack we could carry, and as much Netflix as my iPad could download. It was an expensive haul, but we needed to keep our sanity in those thirty days, and we both feel most grounded when we have chocolate to munch on.

When I think about that limbo period now, I remember how upset I was with everyone up the chain of command for "keeping us in the dark". I'm also acutely aware now, through the gift that is perspective, that they were also in the dark. That same perspective has left me incredibly grateful to that crew, and the Norwegian leadership team, for getting us through an impossible situation and getting everyone home.

We ended up docked in Miami, stuck on the ship, but at least the weather was astonishing. Every day the plan was different, but Arrielle and I were together and knew we could handle whatever they threw at us, and weren't that surprised when we are all laid off and sent home. Keeping us on the ship would have been expensive, and keeping us all healthy could have been a nightmare. The only problem for us became how to go home. Arrielle had given up her place in Toronto and moved her stuff into storage, and I had done the same in New York. We had no "home" to go back to in those cities, and we knew we wanted to stay together.

At the beginning of part one I said Nerdy Nightly would not have returned in this way without Covid, and here is why. On March 22nd, after dating for only five weeks, Arrielle and I flew back to Calgary, our hometown where we met 11 years prior, and moved in with my parents.

Since I cannot seem to be concise in telling this story, Part 3 will be out next Wednesday.