That One Time I Met the [former] Mayor of Memphis

Memphis, Michigan.
Population: 1,184

So, I decided to go on a Whale Watching tour. We were all waiting in line and there were these 2 people walking down the line taking the pictures of all of the families. Turns out I was the only 1 person family, because they looked extremely confused when I said, "Yupp, just me!" They sympathetically let me take my picture with my Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

The thing I have really liked about being all alone so far is that I can basically squeeze in anywhere at anytime, because who doesn't have room for just one more person? I bought my ticket last second, was in the back of the line, and still managed to meander my way all the way up to the front of the ship as we were heading further out into the harbor.

So everything was fine and dandy until we started to pick up speed. My contacts threatened to fly out of my eyes and I discovered what Boston Harbor flavored hair tasted like. So, I decided to retreat inside until we actually got to the whale sanctuary, about 30 miles out (basically an hour away). Of course, like myself, no one else was really fond of the Boston Harbor hair flavor, so we were all packed inside. And of course, almost even more predictable, families of four found it absolutely necessary to take up an entire table of 10 and burn anyone who tried to sit down with their eyes. So, I decided to just stand behind a half empty booth that this family really needed for their bag. Like god forbid they had to put the bag on the empty table in front of them... or even their lap?! Oh heavens no!

A few minutes later, in walked the [former] Mayor of Memphis and his undaunted wife who just sat right down and smiled as the family unhappily moved their bag 2 inches closer to their lap. God forbid if they actually had to touch their own bag. Following behind them were 2, no 3, ok 4 boys. And no, they didn't all belong to the [former] mayor! 

Boy 1. He actually belonged to the [former] mayor. He was 20, (21 in August), and wearing a spider man shirt. He had a particular knack for attracting the young ones, specifically like 5 years old, who stared at him in awe and said "Hi Spider Man!" while hiding behind their mothers' legs.

Boy 2. He was the first to talk to me, but belonged to 2 other parents who were somewhere else on the boat but also from Memphis. He was 18 and confident, majoring in music, and wearing a fabulous fedora. 

Boy 3. He was the younger brother of Boy 2 (16 yrs old) and very smart. He was the reason why his family was in Boston: for his science fair (or something like that). He literally was just full of facts... like you said a trigger word and BAM: "Did you know..."

Boy 4. He was the other brother of Boy 2 (20 yrs old) and autistic. He was extremely friendly and a pleasure to talk to. We were pretty much at the same level of excitement when we both discovered there was WIFI on the boat... only then to be let down when the said WIFI didn't actually work.

So we spent the remainder of the time chit chatting about our lives and why the heck I was all the way there all by myself. Eventually the tour guides announced that we had arrived to the sanctuary, so we all headed outside. What they failed to tell us, though, was that we still weren't going to slow down for a couple more miles. Mrs. [former] Mayor and I decided to duck down and hide from the wind. We laughed and joked about randoms shit that I don't even remember, but I decided that I actually really liked this lady.

After waiting for an eternity to get there, we actually did see whales. And a lot of them too! There were a bunch of mother and baby pairs. Apparently there was one type of whale that was so big that by the time we saw it's tail it was already half way down to the bottom of the harbor. Crazy.

So after we saw all the whales there were to see, we turned the boat around and headed back home. Mrs. [former] Mayor then asked me if I wanted to go out to dinner with them. I thought about it and all I could hear was Dr. Bray's voice (or text rather) in my mind telling me to go and make some stranger friends on the boat. So I agreed. We went to this seafood restaurant next to Quincy Market, a little expensive for my college budget, but I was like what the heck. 

 

The food was AMAZING. I had shrimp stuffed with crab and more shrimp. Annnddd we got dessert. Then, to my surprise, Mr. and Mrs. [former] Mayor picked up the tab for my food. They knew the 1st and foremost way to my heart: food. & of course they were insanely warm and friendly. I hope to see them again because these were definitely 2 families I will never forget! Until next time :)