Love Potion . V, XX OO

The Queen Anna Maria  

 
   From the moment I stepped on the deck of the the Queen Anna Maria, it seemed as if I sipped some kind of "Love Potion"... I was surrounded by men!  There was not one man on that ship, who wasn't paying me attention...  Every morning the sleazy captain (who gave me the 'creeps'...) would phone me at my cabin whispering in my ear:"Good morning sleeping beauty..."He insisted I sit by his side at the Captain's table during formal dinners and asked me to act as the 'Hostess', which I have to admit after resisting, was a lot of fun... After the fifth day of the voyage, the Ship's doctor asked me to marry him and the Photographer was snapping my photos every time I turned a corner... I was constantly being trailed by adoring crew members and their officers, the band leader, the musicians, the bartenders, the entertainers, young and old passengers, the waiters in the dining room and even the steward of my first class cabin... It was uncanny! Was I so relieved to escape the unwanted marriage, that I was radiating some kind of heavenly joy?

 

With the ship’s captain	Introducing the show	The Queen Anna Maria		Enjoying the wind	With hostess Rita

   I am sure that canceling my wedding with Ari, was a Divine Intervention! (Escaping the Trap) Not that  there was anything wrong with the poor man, it is just that he did not fit in to the puzzle of my destiny! Fate it seems, had different planes for me... I had to meet my real true love, loose him and go through the process of ''Suffering from a Broken Heart, in order to develop my soul and grow up spiritually... "There is no spiritual growth without suffering!" Says Carl Jung, and Rumi wrote that "Our heart has to be broken again and again, until it stays Wide Open..."  I now believe that in order to become a good therapist, as well as a spiritual teacher, I had to know 'Real emotional pain' first hand and heal, in order to help others in my Spiritual Journey, which eventually would leads me, to the 5th Dimension... Since Fate or Destiny are parts of the Divine, a Higher Power had to intervene, in order to prevent me from making a terrible and fatal mistake by marrying Ari, who was a very nice man, but the wrong one for me... 

  

  I believe that the attention I was receiving on the cruise, came to reassure me I have done the right thing by escaping the "Marriage Trap", marrying the wrong man and changed the course of my life ... I must have known all this deep inside and was radiating such heavenly joy, that the people around me, wished to be a part of it... Thinking back, men were not the only people, who were seeking my company, the single women gravitated towards me . wishing to be my friends...... They were not at all jealous, at the attention I was receiving from their 'potential suitors' on the ship and wished to be in my company... Without even realizing it, I must have been radiating some kind of Joyful Energy, which made people want to be a part of... I danced the nights away, along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and kept on dancing, as we crossed the Atlantic Ocean, even during a few fierce storms, while most passengers, were moaning in their cabins with "Sea Sickness", I was dancing with the few who didn't and with a few crew members..... Once in the middle of a small hurricane, we were sliding up and down the dance floor, shrieking with laughter as the 'Queen Anna Maria' ,was rising and falling through dangerous highs and laws of gigantic waves... The evening before arriving to the U.S, I put together a show with some of talented passengers and a few members of the crew. My Play Directing skills (my minor at the university of Huston) in addition to my experience as a Drama Teacher in Israel for the past two years, came handy and I was later told, how professional the production was :" Almost like a Broadway Show!  

 
   When we finally reached the N.Y harbor, I sadly said goodbye to my new friends... Watching them disembark, made me realize how close people get when they spend long time together, in close proximity almost as if they have known each other for years, rather then just a few short weeks...  At the beginning. it was very strange to see the new people, who boarded the ship in N,Y, sitting at the tables of the former passengers... However, we soon got to know each other and became close friends. Shortly before we arrived back to Haifa, we stopped at the Italian port of Genoa, to pick up more passengers, on their way   to Israel... I was standing on the pier, with my new German friend Rita, one of the crew members, talking with her parents, who came to meet her at the port and was using my broken German... Little did I know that the man of my destiny, who was ready to board the ship, was standing nearby watching and listening to my 'broken German' with amusement... I had no idea, or any premonition, that the 'love of my life, was standing looking at me, just a few feet away... 

 

  We left Genoa, moving on back to Israel our final destination... I was busy getting ready for the show I directed, which was to take place the evening before we arrived to Haifa's harbor and was stressed, since some of the participants in the show, failed to show up for the final rehearsal... Since it was lunch time, I went to look for them at the two dining rooms of the ship. As I entered the Kosher dining room, where the religious Jewish passengers dined, I saw one of my 'admirers' waving to me... I didn't particularly care for this person, so I pretended not to see him and turned to leave. "Shira!" he yelled across the dining room waving his arms, "Come here!" Heads were turning and in order to silence him, I harried to his table. He was seated across another man, who stood up and introduced himself as Paul... I declined the invitation  for coffee, telling them how busy I was with the rehearsal, and had to look for and collect the rest of the 'amateur singers, dancers and actors for the the final rehearsal, before the show on the next day...

   The show was a smashing success, even better than the one before arriving to N.Y! After several curtain calls, bouquets of flowers and a shower of complements ,I received for the evening performance, we all left the theater and moved to the Gala room, in order to formally celebrate the end of the voyage.. A group

of men was waiting for the captain, to end the first dance with me, so they could have their turn... I was dancing non stop, moving from one partner to another, floating like a cloud on the shiny dance floor. At one point I found myself in the arms of an excellent dancer, who swept me in a dizzying waltz, when suddenly, something felt different... I Looks around me and was shocked to find myself with my dancing partner outside, on the Deck of the ship!!!  The strong wind was blowing my hair and my dress and the sound of the waves was replacing the music inside...

   "How did we get here?" I asked this stranger who was looking at me smiling with with amazement...     "I thought we can use some fresh air, so I waltzed with you right through the first door I could find! I wanted to be alone with you and this was the only way, to get rid of the competition!" This stranger was smiling with amusement, when he was looking at my confused and astonished expression and I was looking at him, somewhat confused and completely speechless..."You don't remember me, do you Shira?   I am Paul, we met yesterday at the Kosher dining room! Would you forgive me for kidnapping you like this? XX It was the only way, I could get to be alone with you!" When I did not answer he said :"Please let me make amends, by allowing me to buy you a drink!"  Without waiting for my answer, he held my elbow and navigated me through a door of an empty bar, where a pianist was playing the Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue... He then puled a chair for me and set across the small table smiling... "What would  you have to drink?" He asked. "I don't drink alcohol" I answered, feeling confused and disoreanted...        It seemed that things were moving way too fast and out of my control... "Well, you are over twenty one right? Don't you think it is about time you try it?" Paul said and turned to the waiter; "Campari on the rocks for the lady and a Brandy for me!" He then looked at me and said smiling: "Please try it Shira        it  is a very mild drink, you would like it!" and smiled...

  "Oh, no!" I heard myself moaning inwardly, "This is all I need right now, to be stuck in a corner of an empty dark bar on my last evening on the ship, with an arrogant, controlling Alcoholic, who is also an Orthodox Jew!"  I was eying him suspiciously, thinking that this man, was way too commending and    self assured; but in spite of my judgment, I found myself listening with a growing interest and curiosity   to this stranger, who so far seemed to Outsmart me... Paul turned out to be well mannered and a very good conversationalist. "Not bad looking either" I admitted to myself... He told me that he is the new   First Secretary at the Austrian Embassy in Tel Aviv and his reason for choosing a career as a diplomat was partially because he wanted to live in many countries as he could... Paul spoke about the time he was studying in NY, on a Fulbright scholarship and his impression of "The city which doesn't sleep". I found myself talking about the last few years of my life, my army service and the various adventures I had with Tsipi and by myself in the U.S and Europe... I also spoke about The Six Days War and of my resent escape from the 'Marriage trap'...

  "You are a very unusual woman!" Paul said smiling."Do you really think so?" I asked with genuine surprise "You don't even know me! " The fact you don't realize it, makes you even more unusual...!" He smiled, telling me how much he is looking forward to get to know Israel, for the first time, even though  he had a glimpse of Jerusalem, from the other side, when he was traveling in Jordan, across the border from Israel. "How come a Jewish man is visiting an Arab country, before visiting Israel? "I asked with surprise... "But I am not Jewish" Paul said. I was confused, frantically searching my mind for the reason    I made such embarrassing mistake, then I remembered..."But you were sitting in the 'Kosher Dining Room when I first met you..." I said confused.  "I was curios to know what kosher food tastes like..." Paul smiled and started to laugh, when he saw the expression on my face... I was a bit confused, a fact which for some reason, seemed to amuse him...

   Although Paul was unusually charm and good looks (part of the observation single people make when they meet for the first time...) I realized there was not a chance for any romantic involvement with this man... Not so much because he wasn't Jewish, but mainly because he was Austrian... In the 60's, Israel  was still populated with many victims, who survived the Nazis concentration camps... There was not  much love for anything German or Austrian, in our little country...  Not even the second generation          of those who were just children (like Paul was) when the horrors of the Concentration Camps were discovered; like the phony 'Medical experiments' and the 'Gas Chambers', which took place in these camps..."Austria was as bad as Germany!" People in Israel were saying, "Even worse!" 

 

   The piano music was delightful, our conversation was stimulating, we laughed a lot and somehow Paul convinced me, to take a sip of his Campari, after I told him I do not drink Alcoholic Beverages..." Just taste it..." he said. To my great surprise I enjoyed the drink and Paul ordered me a glass of my own...This wine had a deep red color, almost the color of a perfect Ruby, sparkling in the light... It tasted sweet and bitter at the same time, as if it was some kind of a premonition about our destiny... I became 'tipsy' After   a few sips and Paulwas laughing, when I described to him my one and only drinking experience, with the champagne which I had in Italy... (European Vacation). He said that he would like to learn Hebrew and asked if I knew anyone who could give him privet lessons. "Actually, why don't You? since you are a teacher?" He asked. "I'll be happy to!" I said with the typical Israeli hospitality, saved for visitors... We chatted for quiet a while and finally got up to leave. Paul walked me to my cabin and to my big surprise instead of trying to kiss me (like others did) he picked up my hand and brought it to his lips, wished me    a good night and left...  We saw each other once again on deck, on the following day, just before the ship reached Haifa. Paul asked for my phone number and I welcomed him to Israel, wishing him a good luck with with his new career...

 

  I knew that shipboard friendships and romances, usually fade away almost as soon as the people's feet touch the solid ground... It was Friday and my mother invited some of our family members and a few of my close friends for the Sabbath dinner. Not even one of the guests, including my parents, had ever been away from Israel and they seemed to be living this trip vicariously, through my stories and photographs of my trip... I was always a good 'story teller' and was entertaining my gusts with stories about the cruse by describing funny episodes which took place, with the ship's crew and passengers... I told him about the stops we made in Europe and the islands we visited, on the way to the U.S and back. We were talking and laughing late in to the night, he waljed me to my cabin and I completely forgot this handsome, young Austrian diplomat, I met on the ship, until three days later, when he phoned...

With Love and Light,

Shira