Are You My Bubba? Netherlands, Day 7

by Alison

A cruise, it seems, centers around your next meal. We were always rushing to get back in time for lunch/dinner and rushing to get up in time for breakfast.

We spent every evening meal with our new friends from Australia, Doug and Sharon. Both mild mannered but with quick wit, we had fun getting to know them.

Around Day 5, Joan posited to me that Doug might be our half-brother. Piermans are notorious for creating theories and conspiracies. We come by it naturally because, Mom.

Mom can’t look at an old photograph be it in a museum, magazine or internet that she doesn’t find my grandpa aka Daddy. Such as, “That’s Daddy in that photo with Frank Lloyd Wright”. This happens with such frequency that I believe the Where’s Waldo inventors owe Mom a royalty. Another of Mom’s theories is that Elle McPherson is my niece. Stick with me.

Dad was in the Navy during WWII. His ship was damaged and took safe harbor in Sidney, Australia. Dad was there for six months around 1943 and he had a girlfriend. He and Mom didn’t get married until 1945 so she’s not concerned that he cheated on her. She just has it in her mind that Dad got his girlfriend pregnant. Elle McPherson? She’s Australian and Mom believes Elle looks like a Pierman. I don’t see it myself as Piermans are generally very good looking.

So, our Australian friend, Doug, made the mistake of telling us he doesn’t know who his father is which got us to thinking this might be… Bubba?!!  We worked up the nerve to ask his birth year and the math says Doug can’t be our brother. Not the happy ending we had conjured in our heads.

We were sad to say goodbye to Doug and Sharon but boy were we glad to be off that boat. The Humphreys headed straight for the airport leaving us alone in sunny Amsterdam for one more day. We are low on Euro and couldn’t get tickets to Van Gogh so I guess we’ll play Find Daddy and later hit an outdoor cafe for a round of Are You My Bubba?

Photos from our boat below. (If cruising is your thing, the Gate 1 Travel Group did a great job and their boat was superior to others we saw including Viking.)

Categories: Amsterdam, Family, momTags: , , , , ,

9 Comments

  1. I wonder if our mom’s aren’t half sisters. Mine spent our childhood at the movies pointing out all the actresses of the day that were at the very least, second cousins to her. I was nevet able to develop any celebrity crushes for fear they would be incestuous.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Hmm, no, I don’t remember any of those conversations. Although there could have been a few local offspring as a result of “when he was passing through” trips. Those were usually whispers with other neighborhood moms in the kitchen when they thought no one was listening.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. This would be like Ella Fitzgerald and ? had a baby who was Dinah Shore. Ted Danson was also an illegitimate but I can’t remember who she said were his parents.

        Liked by 1 person

  2. I hope you find you Bubba soon, but in the meantime it must be a great excuse to go to Australia and do the search there. I don’t know if you have ever been there, but we went in the summer of 2013 (Australia’s winter) and loved every day of our 6 week tour on the eastern coast, from Queensland to Canberra. Sydney is lovely as the temperatures were in the late teens (celsius); not bad for winter! Go on: treat yourself!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment