Here Say is a project in community storytelling. We travel to a new place each week and ask people to share true stories about things we all experience: love, family, learning and more. To see where we've been, check out our interactive map. And to hear your favorite stories from last season, you can find our free podcast on iTunes.
Rosalyn Heidbretter told us of her recent adventure on the high seas.
“My husband and I went on our first cruise last year in August. I would recommend a cruise for anyone, it was absolutely phenomenal. We went to Alaska. We enjoyed the time on the boat, there was always something going on. The cruise director was so funny, it was hilarious listening to him when they did special shows. Food, if you couldn’t find something to eat you were a very picky eater, it was great. Sitting out on the deck just watching the shoreline, we saw glaciers. And to me glaciers should be white, but where some had just fallen off it was actually blue. So there’s just many, many things you can see that you don’t see here.”
We met Jerry Siegel, who told us about how his idea of fun has changed a little over the years.
“I used to be a heavy drinker. And I had a lot of fun. But then my drinking got to the point where I didn’t have fun no more. I got in trouble with the law for drinking, and when I got in trouble with the law I quit drinking. I haven’t had a drink for 32 years, I haven’t had a drink. But whenever you go out drinking and having fun, it’s a dangerous way to live. Now I go around and I volunteer at the hospitals and the prisons, and talk to the guys that’s on drugs and stuff. Trying to see if I can help one person. And I’ve been doing that for 32 years, and that’s the only thing that’s kept me sober.”
Marian Pierson and her husband took a trip to China recently. She told us about some of their favorite parts of the trip.
“We went to the jade place. Had tea, of course. And we just had a really good time. We went on this fast train, we went 200-some mph. That was fun. That was up our alley because we like to have fun.”
Rose Woodson spoke to us about how she likes to stay active and connect with friends.
“Well one of the things I enjoy doing is Tai Chi. I’ve been doing it for over 20 years. It helps me with my flexibility, it helps with balance. It’s just enjoyable, the people that come here. We do it here at the Senior Center. If you give tai chi a chance it benefits you so much it’s well worth the confusion to begin with.”
Paul Germain told us about the fun, and reckless, way he used to play when he was a kid.
“We used to get up on the train trestle and wait for the freight trains to come down. There would be a stop about a mile up the track so they would be relatively beginning to slow down. We’d get up on one side of the bridge and memorize the cars as they’d go by. Maroon car, orange car, oil tanker car, and wait for an open bed coal car. Then we’d get on the other side, get up on the rail – maroon car, orange car, oil tanker – and jump into the coal car and ride down and walk back and do it all over again. Now I wouldn’t advise that for any 10 or 12-year-olds of course. Nor would I advise it for any 70-year-olds, it’s way too dangerous.”
