Expectations

I'm going to assume that everyone has them. Expectations of some sort or another, that is.
What expectations do you have for yourself? What expectations do you have for your family, your children, your spouse, your friends, your employer? What expectations do you have for your career, your future and your happiness? What are you doing to fulfill your own expectations? Do you discuss your expectations with other people, especially those from whom you expect results?
Expectations can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

the act or state of looking forward or anticipating

something expected; a thing looked forward to

a prospect of future good or profit

the degree of probability that something will occur

I have a theory that our expectations often dictate the way we talk about and treat one another. Expectations set the stage for who makes the money and who makes the compromises and who makes the dinner. It's a state of mind. It's the way we live, always meeting or not meeting expectations. Unhappiness could be defined as knowing that there is a difference between our talents and abilities and the results in maximizing those talents and in not meeting our own expectations and our own potential.
Here are some thoughts I've had on different kinds of expectations, such as:
Cultural expectations - such at Get up. Show up. Shut up. (Rick and his friend David C. swear by this cultural expectation.) Those who do it generally succeed in life, those who don't usually fail. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Turn the other cheek. Treat everyone how you would like to be treated. Leave your campsite cleaner than you found it. Take out what you brought in.

Low expectations - wherein we don't think people will amount to much (and they usually don't surprise us)

Clear expectations - defining a desired result (do we actually do this or do we expect people to read our minds or just intuitively know what we expect?)

Expectations of other people (what we hope they will do and not do to meet our expectations)

Expectations in your marriage (what we each envision as success, together and individually)

Great expectations (achieve a lofty goal, do something incredible, make a difference in your sphere of influence, leave a place better than you find it)

Expectations of your children (get good grades, make good friends, don't be foolish, go to church, go on a mission, get an education, be a good person, make a difference, make a plan for your life and work towards it, don't just glide along, the choices you make today determine the type of life you will live tomorrow, etc. Are these expectations vocalized and reviewed often?)

Employment expectations for the type of work or job you do for the company (performance evaluations, bottom line, in box - out box, exceeding expectations)

• Treat a man as he is, he will remain so. Treat a man the way he can be and ought to be, and he will become as he can be and should be.

• If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.

• A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though awakens your own expectations.

• If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.

• I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.

I've found that I generally expect a lot of people and of myself. I may actually have too high of expectations in some regards. Since I'm willing to put out, to produce, to support, to friendship and to love then I assume that others are too. I've been horribly disappointed on a few occasions. I believe that we are on earth to accomplish something, not just take up space. I've had crushed expectations and other times I've experienced such joy in meeting or watching someone else meet their own expectations. It's the human experience I guess. I think it's a good exercise to review goals and expectations and to make sure that we are taking more steps forward than backward. I become very frustrated with people who have no plan for themselves or their families and who have no direction. I can't understand it.

6 months to go

Our Elder in Mongolia is down to SIX months. I'm so excited. I hope it goes by fast. Missions are great and all, but they are LONG. There is no where I would rather my son be right now, but honestly, I miss the kid. I missed our daughter when she was gone to Venezuela and I missed our oldest son when he was in Portugal too. Terribly. Missions are kind of an endurance test for many of the players. Life changing, important eternally, not to be missed, but just the same, it's a long, long time. Two years long. I admire our son's exhuberance, faith, attitude, love of all things Mongolian and the fact that he is stronger and better than I ever imagined. Andy has served with his whole heart. I'm so proud of him.

And we celebrated being husband and wife

And FINALLY...

If you made it this far, congratulations.
I'll give you a jolly rancher the next time I see you.
Brevity is a virtue. One that I lack (like mother like daughter I guess.)
Now you don't need to go on a cruise to Alaska because you've been there vicariously
and you don't have four pounds to lose.
Anyway, we did enjoy every minute of it.
Check out some of my favorite pictures that I took
(minus the post cards at the top) and my new Alaskan creche.
Bon voyage!

And of course we ate, and ate (and ate)

Click to enlarge these pictures to read the amount of food consumed each week on a cruise ship.
Some of my favorites:
110 to 115 TONS of food is delivered to the ship before sailing
500 lbs of fish prepared daily
1,200 lbs of chicken and1,200 lbs of beef - daily
28 gals on mayonnaise used daily (sick!)
60 gals of ice cream prepared daily
200 cakes and pies served daily
350 lbs butter used daily (now we're talking)
2,000 lbs of fresh fruit served daily

Amount of serving dishes washed daily - 60,000 - glasses 20,000
62 men work continuously throughout all the ship's galleys pre-washing, sorting and feeding a constant stream of china, glasses, silver, pots and pans into the dish washing machines (poor guys)

It's a well known fact that you are well feed on a cruise, right? Food is available pretty much 24/7. We didn't know this when we went on our first cruise. Now we board the ship and head for the food. Pizza is available almost always and room service is available free of charge. You can also request a fresh fruit bowl for your room, if only you were hungry enough to eat it. You can be served breakfast, lunch and dinner by waiters or you can go to the buffet and choose whatever you want for yourself. If you are going on a shore excursion, they provide wrapped sandwiches, fruit and cookies to pack a lunch. There's Italian night, American night, Captain's night, among other themed nights. There's unlimited ice cream cones, hot chocolate, milk, OJ, apple juice and lemonade. Soda pop costs extra.
We had some serious fresh sea food. They could have been fishing from the boat for all I know. Pictured below was the seafood buffet served on the deck of the ship while we cruised through the glaciers. Rick took a pass, but I'll try anything once. I credit my mother for this. She didn't raise any wimpy or terribly picky eaters (as far as I know.) I especially LOVE seafood. Love, love it. Throughout the cruise I had my fill of salmon, crab legs, halibut, shrimp, prawns, lobster and clam chowder. I tried caviar and sushi, although they aren't my favorite taste (too salty.) The breads, rolls, desserts, soups and salads were divine throughout the week.
All this and I ONLY put on 4 pounds. Trust me, it could have been much, much worse.

We were waited on hand and foot by the crew

Cruise ships employ A LOT of people from all around the world. Where were about 2300 passengers on the ship and nearly 820 crew members taking care of us. What is that, a one to three ratio? Ship service is amazing. We had a cabin steward named Ricardo from the Philippines. Our waitress was named Marnell from South Africa (a darling red head no less with a delightful accent) and our waiter was named Marjan from Croatia. It was fun to chat with them and many of the other crew members who were waiting on us.














In typical five star hotel style, Ricardo cleaned up our room daily and folded down the sheets in the evening, putting chocolates on the pillow. He kept our room spic and span and paid attention to every detail that proved that we were staying in a swanky place. We enjoyed soft feather pillows, high thread count sheets and a down comforter for a good night sleep (although the bed was kind of hard.) And yes, the toilet paper had a coat of arms and it and the tissue paper were folded to a sharp point twice a day!















One day as we were going into the room, Ricardo was coming down the hall and said that there was a problem in our room and he was sorry he had to tell us about it, but he figured that we would want to know. He said that he had seen two mice in our room. They were on our bed. He called in the report to the take care of the problem, but he warned us that we might see them again. I was freaked out until I saw this...




















For the rest of the trip we played a little cat and mouse game, hiding the mice around the room in various places. Ricardo would hide them and I would find them and re-hide them. I took care of them once and for all when we left. Poor little mice!