Elle’s Journey

from Gardener Girl

To Broadcast Personality

OK OK the pics are for dramatic effect. But I have to say, it is so fun to able to change roles and take my talents in one world (dirt) and put it to use in another (diamonds). (Giggle)

It’s been so long since I’ve written. And while the silence has been complete for my writing on-line, the activity and learning I’ve been living in my day-to-day life has been huge.

(A quick note, you may not have received notice of my last two postings on Vermont and New York from back in December due to the way I wrote and posted them. Scroll down and catch yourself up with those postings before reading on here. Cheers!)

After leaving New York and loving EVERY minute of it, I headed to San Francisco. My girlfriend Jen and cousins and nieces live in the city and across the SF Bay. They were to be my last major stop before boarding the ship to begin work again.

Yes indeed, towards the end of my stay in New York I finally got the call from the home office for my ship placement. I admit I was disappointed to find out that I wouldn’t be headed straight to the Caribbean. But also very happy I would be on a low-profile ship during my first placement. It also had the added benefit of being nearer to Seattle, and in the same time zone as Eden Landscapes in case something needed to be handled rapidly.

So knowing my days were numbered before I started my position, I jumped into the myriad details I needed to complete before I went ship-board in a few short weeks. Unfortunately, my time with family and friends was tucked in between the moments while I wasn’t working in San Francisco.

Happy to see so many of my family over the past two months, I packed up for the last time and headed to Los Angeles, though not without some funny and not-so-funny events.

Two days before leaving for Los Angeles I caught wind of a bad situation brewing with my new hire at Eden back in Seattle. It wasn’t so fun to have to fly back to Seattle at the last minute to deal with firing a key employee and salvaging the situation with the company. The silver lining in the situation? It gave me the opportunity to see a few friends while I was there for my little 48 hour whirlwind visit.

So I’ve now been ship-board for over a month. It is hard to believe, since a contract is only 6 months long. I’ve been adjusting well and taking to the work and life aboard like a fish to water, thanks to my chameleon like qualities as a person who loves life.

Giving you a taste of life aboard a ship is challenging to communicate, so I’ll just mention a few tidbits to give you a flavor of it and allow your imagination to paint you a picture:

• The ship sails out of its home-port, Los Angeles two times per week, Monday and Friday.

• Each time it leaves port we have approximately 2,500 new guests on board.

• My job is to reach as many of those guests as possible with the information and inspiriation about visiting and patronizing the businesses in our ports-of-call.

• To do that, I give live public lectures that are recorded for television, produce extra ‘shows’ that are aired on my ship’s channel, and maintain high visibility with all our guests by socializing, socializing, socializing. (If you can believe it, a bit more socializing than can actually enjoy.)

• The days are long and it literally is like living 2 or 3 days off-ship in one day on-board simply because so much activity happens aboard on a daily basis.

• There are approximately 800 crew with over 60 nationalities represented.

• It is a fish-bowl among the staff. Everything that’s done on-board before midnight will be seen and heard about by the entire staff by morning. Worse than any high school rumor mill, only now its done in over 60 languages.

So if you can get a flavor of it, it’s high-octane living in an artificial environment. I’m loving it as the scientist loves a well-designed experiment or as an adventurous woman loves travel in a new and exciting country.

On the professional side, the experience in broadcast I’m building and the business to business coaching I’m able to do with the the businesses that I represent is ace-in-the-hole.

On the personal side, I think it’s the most amazing opportunity to share stories from all around the world at the dinner table with my friends from South Africa who work in the casino, or the bartenders from the Philippines, or the waitress from Romania, or the Spa Manager from England, or or or. . . the list never ends. I am trully working inside of a ‘mini United Nations’.

It’s an interesting dichotomy for me to be the larger-than-life, glamorous ‘Lady of the Ship’ on TV counter-balanced by my desire to be the most real and kind person I can be in an environment that is plastic and harsh. It reminds me of the often quoted, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” I will be that.

So my long-time dream of traveling the world to gather people’s stories is, in-part, being fulfilled by my job aboard ships. With one large difference, now the stories and people are coming to me instead of me coming to the stories. Interesting twist.

I leave you with many thoughts of well-wishes. I look forward to when you and I can sit down and I can listen to some of your stories for the past months. Until then, I’ll see you soon.

Linda

Hello All!

It was a wonderfully restful and quiet time in Vermont at the red house with the Long’s in Pomfret. So hilly and remote it was. Not even cell phones work in this region! (trully a stunning thought for an urban Seattle-ite!)

I had the opportunity to visit our nearly 200 y.o. Hazen family farm called Brookside in White River Junction, NH, owned and operated by my cousin Henry Hazen and family. He is running a successful equestrian facility on the land that is truly beautiful. One afternoon I had the chance to ride with his daughter in their HUGE new arena which was a great reminder how greatly I love and enjoy riding and training horses.

Though the rain washed away much of the snow while I was there, there was still plenty to make snowmen and have a few snowball fights.

So many thanks to cousins Ron and Betsy, Joanna and Norwood for extending such amazing hospitality. It touched me deeply to be a part of a family that lives close to each other, eats together, truly enjoys each other’s company, and takes the time to have endlessly fascinating intellectual and heart-felt conversations. Now I am proud to be, ‘the other daughter’ in the clan of unofficial daughters.

I was off to taste a bit of the Big City (New York) the night before New Year’s Eve. Though Times Square was tempting, I decided warm company, music, and a drink sounded far preferable to freezing cold, rainy weather, security checkpoints and 75,000 people crushed into 2 city blocks. So I found myself listening to the most outrageous Brazilian dance music and dancing the night away til 5 am to celebrate New Years. Jeesh that felt good, so very good!

Day after day it was another set of amazing adventures. Sometimes what I did was the adventure. But mostly, it was about the people I met and the stories that were created in the moment. Just to share a few snippets:

1st – There was Paul who just returned from China after studying Chinese medicine for the past 11 years. I met he and his brother and friends dancing to the Brazilian music New Year’s Eve. His work in body-mind healing modalities from the Eastern perspective is awesome and is preparing him to research and work on healing AIDS. But not only that, Paul is a native Long Islander, so I learned to pronounce New York names with a Long Island accent. That was much fun and laughter.

2nd – There’s the two gentleman sitting at the end of the bar where I was going to eat dinner one night. They were wearing lovely hand knitted sweaters, sipping their cocktails and knitting away at the first two seats of the Fish Restaurant of Restaurant Alley in Hell’s Kitchen. One of the gentleman Chris is currently working on his commissioned Broadway musical called “In High Heels and Backwards”. It’s all about the lovely Ginger Rogers. Now there’s a lady I’ve related to for years with my Ballroom dancing. So the saying goes, “Why was Ginger so much better than Fred Astaire?” Reply, “Because she did it all in high heels and backwards, of course!”

3rd – There’s Frankie Manning, the icon of the late 1920’s swing dance scene in Harlem’s Cotton Club, Savoy Swing Club and the films of 20’s dancing. Even closing in on 90 y.o. and 2 hip replacement surgeries that man can DANCE! Frankie bought me a glass of wine at his regular Monday night hangout and we sat and chatted about our mutual Seattle dance acquaintances and how they’re all doing. But when the 17 piece brass jazz band kicked in, all we could do was kick up our heels. All evening long those gentleman had me huffing and puffing. And the average age of the men I was Swinging with was around 74! Ahhh, how I wish all men understood what a gift it is to know how to dance and take a lady out on the floor and enjoy an evening of dancing and live music. I consider it the perfect combination of entertainment, exercise, and ecstasy. The world truly would be a better place if we all danced!

Cousins Molly and Scott with sons Tim and Jonathan were wonderful hosts and put up well with my energetic self, seeing every corner of New York I possibly could while I was there. And through it all, the people, the noise, the big-ness of the Big City, I fell totally in love with her. New York, you will always have a special place in my heart. There truly is nothing in the world like you!

Greetings all! And a very happy Holiday Season to you.

It is the Winter Solstice today, the shortest day of the year.
Traditionally this is the time to be quiet, to pull all your energy into
your soul and wait in the midst of the darkness. “Waiting for
what?” Perhaps its waiting for a suprising discovery that occurs in the
midst of the darkness. Perhaps its simply a time to rest. Perhaps its hearing something for yourself, from yourself, that can only be heard in the space of the silence.

For me this Season, I’m not sure what it is that I need. However, the quiet stillness I’m experiencing surrounded by snow in New England is perfectly perfect.

a voice yells from off stage right: “SNOW! I thought this lady was supposed to be in the middle of the hot Caribbean sweating herself in the sun with no sign of traditional white
Christmas in sight,” remarks an imaginary friend.

Too true. Things have changed quickly and dramatically in the past 10
days. The plan of working informally with my contact with ships for the next 4 months was
shorted by oh. . . .4 months when I was notified the second week I was aboard that a transfer just occured and I’d lost my contact. I was at a crossroads: call this adventure quits or
go for it and pursue a full position with my own ship. Of course, I chose the later and went for it.

Last week I was in South Beach, Miami training with the parent company
I contracted with, an LVMH susidiary. The training, the position, and the company are all
spectacular.

Since there was a gap between training sessions, I had the opportunity to
come visit my New England family in Vermont. So today I am writing you
from the second floor of an old family farmhouse just off the Appalachian
Trail in Southern Vermont. It is BEAUTIFUL country here and all of it is
blanketed with a thick layer of crystalline snow.

Last night the view out my window took my breath away. The moon reflected
off the snow and the Maple trees cast such shadows it appeared to be
daylight in the midst of the night. AND. . .I can really see the stars
out here. Truly and completely!

I’ll be staying here with family until shortly before New Years. I’m
hoping I can get to New York City before New Years, perhaps ice skate
at Rockefeller Plaza and see the ball drop on the 31st. FUN!

Training will continue in New York after the 1st and sometime mid-January
I’ll be back off the mainland USA and back onto the ships, exactly where
and when I do not know. For now, I wait and prepare for the work ahead,
because once it starts, its going to be a quick trip into the midst of
working hard and long in the position of Port Lecturer.

So while my cell doesn’t get ANY reception here in the hills of Vermont, I
am connected more easily by phone and email at present. I’ll be checking
my cell phones voice mail regularly.

I hope all is well with you and that you receive whatever it is that YOU
need from the midst of the dark of Winter. May it benefit you for the
months to come as the light now grows longer day by day.

And for now, I wish you a very merry Holiday Season.

Love, Linda

The 1st 3 days aboard the ship were insane. My trainers work was cut out for him double-time since situations seemed to be stacked against his success; from rooms being double booked for his speaking engagements to announcements not being made regarding his talks.

I was present as an assistant and shadow to be learning his position and seeing how and what he does. Let me tell you, if I happened to be one of the hardest working business owners in Seattle, he is an even harder working entrepreneur in his position aboard these ships.

I could hardly keep up. But I did.

Unlike the last 5 years of building a company, I had the opportunity to rest and balance the day after yesterday in Cozumel and today in Costa Maya on the mainland Mexican Yucatan Peninsula. Each port had their particularities. Both very catered to the tourism industry of the cruise ships.

When I shared about my upcoming adventures with many of the folk who knew me less back in Seattle, they were awestruck by the glamour of what I am doing. I would like to share a thought from the last few days that I had tonight.

~~~I stand on a deck outside in the warm wind. 11:30 at night somewhere on the sea between Costa Maya and Grand Cayman ~~~

The night. Black and dark. It is black and dark just like the night’s anywhere else in the world. Anywhere else in the world it is warm. The people here, the manager’s of the diamond stores, the sales people with the one-handed wave inviting me into their silver store, they are all people, with the same issues and presentation, and posturing, and lessons and loves that I saw back home in a far less ‘glamourous’ space in a drizzly Seattle Sunday afternoon.

Glamour ~ in essence it is the misrepresentation of what is, as to what that wishes to be.

I see no glamour, only people, being people. Real people in real homes who survived hurricane Wilma in Cozumel. Real Panamanian bartenders who are working aboard – long and insane hours – in order to be able to ‘be somebody’ when they return home again. Real inquisitive young dancers who look forward to promoting their career through working aboard in order to get into that performance position that they so desire.

So ironic. Many people assume the glamour is the life, and I see only the glamour in the architecture of the ship. That trully is glamourous. But the people? People are people wherever you go. The surroundings being glamourous or no, I’ve loved hearing the stories of a few people to date, and the dreams that make them go ‘tick’.

When I stood in the quiet of the night with the warm wind whipping my hair, I was reminded that silence is golden, for it is everywhere. And I thank the night that people are people wherever you go as well. And in that way, I know I am not alone.

Linda

Hello all my lovely friends and family. Welcome to my blog, short for Web Log. This is going to be my main channel to stay in touch with all of you across the globe. I’ll be able to share pictures with you and stories and insights as I step forward into this new adventure of life beyond my 10 FANTASTIC years in Seattle, and into a time when my home is where my heart is.

If you would like to subscibe, please find the link at the lower right part of your screen and sign up as a subscriber. This will notify you any time I make a new entry on the site. Also, please go ahead and delete all other email addresses you may have for me. The address you received through this site will be my only email address in the future. Thank you.

For now, I am in my last 3 days here in Seattle and I want to say a GI-NORMOUS thank you to each of you who has helped me with the company transition, pack my things, and keep me sane through these massive changes. It may sound trite to say but I’ll say it regardless, if you don’t have people who you know and trust to have your back, you can’t feel the wind lift you under your wings.

Fly girl fly!

Indeed, I’ll be flying high with the grounding that comes from connection to my community and spirit here in Seattle.

Love, Linda