I was on a cruise ship, sailing from Civitavecchia, Italy across the Atlantic to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. When I was approaching a set of glass doors I spotted an old guy coming toward me from the other side. Not only old, but also drunk, from the looks of him. He listed to the right, staggered ahead a few feet and then listed to the left. Sure, the ship was rocking a bit, some swells were in the 10 to 15 foot range, and so all us passengers had some difficulty walking in a straight line. But, this guy was all over the place.<\/p>\n
As I got closer to the glass doors I started to plan a route to avoid a collision, but every time I went to my right he staggered to his left. We seemed to be in perfect sync. When I was ten feet from the door I got a rude awakening. I wasn\u2019t approaching a set of glass doors; they were mirrored doors. It was me I\u2019d been watching, thinking it was some old drunk.<\/p>\n
Now I know why some of the people on the ship turned around and went the other way to avoid me looking like a drunk old coot. I was cold sober when I confronted myself in the mirror. I admit I have balance issues, caused by neuropathy in my lower legs and feet that causes those nerves to trick my brain, telling it I\u2019m tilting to the left when actually I\u2019m not leaning at all. The brain listens to the signals from my feet and makes a correction by pushing me to the right.<\/p>\n