Pollywog No More

Just a few short minutes ago, our baby girl became a Shellback. Under no circumstances did I see that happening today. I was so certain she wouldn’t want to go through the Neptune Day ceremony that I wore blue jeans and tennis shoes to the festivities. Thus, it was her father who caught her as she jumped into the pool after having a nasty green concoction dumped over her head. In his NOC Cow Tipping T-Shirt and Green plaid shorts Wade, too, went through the ceremony. The crew performing the initiation didn’t know he’d done it before (we both became Shellbacks on the Spring ’04 voyage), so they doused him completely before he jumped in the pool, caught our daughter as she jumped in, walked her through the pool and watched her kiss the fish (or perhaps pretend to?) and King Neptune’s ring. When Neptune’s court entered the 7th deck this afternoon, they did so with much fanfare and I thought Emma’s face being painted with a dolphin, a seahorse and a fish before she entered the parade would be enough excitement for the day. Boy was I wrong. As she exited deck 7, she received a high five from Captain Kristonovich, who told her she’d done a fantastic job. As I write this Wade is washing her hair for a second time in an effort to remove the less than pleasant smell they’ve both taken on this evening.