• Photo

Stephanie Foglesong. Photo by Jerry Scott

Sphere IT

Save This Page

Reader Reaction

digg it

Riding the waves

By JERRY SCOTT/Staff

Once upon a time there was a girl named Stephanie. She grew up in the tiny Bland County community of Ceres and attended school at Bland Combined.
She came to Bland Elementary at a second-grader, snaggle-toothed with long, straight sandy blond hair. Her first teacher in Bland County was Ruth Ann Barton.
She would go on to graduate in 2004 from Bland High, one in a class of just 38 members. Fittingly, her senior superlative dubbed her “most mischievous.” She was a member of the Bland County Bears basketball program.
After her graduation from Bland High, she moved to Milwaukee, Wis. She felt the need to go to a bigger area in pursuit of a career. The fact that her mother’s family lived there went a long way in her decision. That was two years ago.
So who is this girl? She is Stephanie Foglesong. She is the daughter of Bobby Foglesong and Chris Foglesong. She has two brothers. Older brother Ben is currently stationed in Iraq, and younger brother Kyle is employed at ABB in Bland.
This little story came to light on Wednesday morning Nov. 14 as my wife, Glenda, and I were vacationing in Hawaii. We had taken this trip in observance of our 20th wedding anniversary. We were on an island-hop cruise of the Hawaiian Islands on the Norwegian Cruise Lines ship Pride of America.
While sitting around the pool area and taking in the rays of the scorching sun that Wednesday morning, 10’ish or so and watching some of the other 2,000-plus guests on the ship, I noticed this tall and slender young lady walking around and serving drinks. The little tray she carried supported several tall glasses full of the various kinds of Hawaiian drinks the ship had to offer.
It was obvious she, too, was scorching under the bright sunlit skies, her forehead with a pink tint to it contrasting against her dark glasses. The more I watched this young lady do her thing, the more I was becoming convinced that she sure looked familiar.
She had the look and she certainly had the same walk I had seen during girls’ basketball seasons from years past. She also had the height.
“If that’s not Stephanie Foglesong, then it’s got to be her exact double,” I finally said to Glenda. “You watch her and see what you think.”
Not really thinking a whole lot more about it over the next few minutes, I was suddenly stunned when I heard another young server shout words that loudly rang in my ears.
“Hey, Stephanie,” she yelled. “Could you come here for a minute?”
It was then that I’d had enough. I had to find out if in fact this could be Stephanie Foglesong, the same Stephanie Foglesong that had graduated with our son, Todd, back in 2004.
I walked over and after pointing out the girl in question, asked what her name was. I was informed that indeed her name was Stephanie.
“What is her last name?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” came the answer from the young Hawaiian girl. “I can’t pronounce it but I can show you. We have a list of all of the employees right here.”
She grabbed her list, took her index finger and started scanning down her list of some 25 people right to the F’s. There it was in black and white—the name Stephanie Foglesong.
Glenda and I promptly turned and walked to her. She didn’t even see us coming.
“Do you remember us?” I asked. Startled and obviously surprised, she looked at us for a brief moment and simply said, “Oh, my God! You’re the Scotts.”
We talked a little while and soon she went on her way; she was working, after all. We went our way as well. I quickly spread word throughout the ship to other Bland Countians on board what had happened. I was urged to try and do a story on what had I had discovered. On Thursday I made the arrangements to meet with her the next day, conduct a small interview, and take a photo or two.
On Friday I found out that she was in the midst of her second cruise, having being employed with NCL for just over two weeks. She landed the job after seeing an ad in a Milwaukee newspaper for an upcoming job fair. The lone “drawback” was she would have to move to Hawaii and take up residence on a cruise ship.
“My contract calls for me to work five months straight, 10 to 12 hours per day seven days a week,” she said. “We then get five straight weeks off. My duties include serving drinks at the Ocean Drive Bar and the Waikiki Beach Bar and cleaning. Hopefully I’ll do a good enough job and will be able to move up the ladder.”
She stated that her favorite part of the job was the view from the ship of all the Hawaiian Islands and the weather. Her least favorite was the amount of hours that she and her co-workers work but also noted a plus was being able to save some money.
“With the hours we work, we are really limited in our free time,” she said. “We really don’t have time to spend our money so we’re able to really save. If we’re in port, I’ll try to do a little shopping. I also like going to the beach or trying different restaurants. We have virtually no expenses as we live for free on the ship. Our food is also free and when my tour is over, they’ll fly me back home at no charge and fly me back five weeks later, also at no charge.”
Now that she’s seen the touring life from one side, she said she might use her five weeks off in early spring 2008 to do a little sightseeing herself.
“I’m sure I’ll return to Milwaukee,” she stated. “Maybe even do a little traveling myself. I really hope to be able to come back here, too.”
With her job, she has made lots of new friends. Some are her co-workers and others are people from all over the world she has met in her short period aboard the Pride of America. The last thing she probably expected was to run into someone from her hometown.
“I would have never expected this,” she said. “Especially not in my first two or three weeks on the job.”
When asked if she had anything she would like to say to her friends and family back in Bland, she paused for a moment to think.
“I think everyone needs to get out, at least for a little while,” she said. “Go back if you want but take a couple of years to explore, meet new people, and see if there’s anything the world has to offer you that Bland County doesn’t.”
Regardless, it really is a small world.