Milo Backus

There is an elderly man on our cruise who is wheelchair bound and can only move two steps to get from the wheelchair to a regular chair. He is traveling with his young caregiver Norma. Norma is with him 24 hours a day. His family is not on this trip so these two unlikely companions are off on a world cruise. It would be easy for Norma to leave him parked in his room or in the atrium while she explored the ship or a port for a few hours but she does not. A few days out of Miami, I found them at the shore excursions desk. She was going over each port and the excursions offered at each. He said he wanted to see the pyramids but was afraid he could not go. Norma said they could make it work and they booked an overnight land excursion to Cairo. He said he used to be a scuba diver and loved the water so they booked boat trips. He and Norma have been on both of our snorkeling trips. Yesterday they were on our Great Barrier Reef excursion. She was going to take an hour to learn to scuba dive when he told her to do it but before she did, she made sure he had lunch and then, by golly, she got him in swim trunks and a life jacket and with the help of some of the ship’s crew they got him to the diving platform and he got to sit on the platform in the water and watch folks snorkel. Then she got him out and secured in a place where he could watch all the action before she had her 1 hour adventure. After that he was back in the water with her. At night, he is dressed for dinner and they eat in the restaurant. You can find them all over the ship looking at the world go by. She also sends daily photos to his family of their adventures.

The cynic would say that she found a way to get a free world cruise but the beautiful reality is that she is giving 141 days of her life so that he can have a wonderful adventure at age 94. May God bless them both as they continue on with their adventure of a lifetime.Read more