{"id":11852,"date":"2005-04-21T21:56:00","date_gmt":"2005-04-22T02:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theandiamo.com\/logwp\/?p=11852"},"modified":"2023-03-24T21:58:01","modified_gmt":"2023-03-25T02:58:01","slug":"ode-to-raf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theandiamo.com\/logwp\/blog\/2005\/04\/21\/ode-to-raf\/","title":{"rendered":"Ode to Raf"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Raf left with Miet and Cil a few days after my birthday. He had to go back to Belgium and the real world. He had spent a lot of time onboard, and become quite a good friend. Unfortunately, our goodbye was very short and quick, and I thought he needed a more appropriate sendoff. So I came up with this seafarer&#8217;s ditty one day after having a few Cuba Libres too many&#8230;<a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ODE TO RAF<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theandiamo.com\/images\/utila3\/OdetoRaf.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Raf\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There once was a landlubber named Raf,<br \/>He was Belgian, he made a mean rice pilaf.<br \/>He came aboard Andiamo merely a backpacker,<br \/>But he would soon become an able anchorman and tacker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It all started in Mexico, at the Women&#8217;s Isle,<br \/>Things took a horrible turn in a very short while.<br \/>Andiamo needed crew, the captain asked everyone he knew,<br \/>But none can be found to board that vessel of blue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then two of the captain&#8217;s seafaring friends,<br \/>A Dutchman and a German who knew the local trends.<br \/>They knew the right man who can calm the pandemonium,<br \/>To all&#8217;s surprise, he came from Belgium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the Belgian named Raf had a dilemma,<br \/>He didn&#8217;t know sailing from his Aunt Emma.<br \/>But the captain figured what the hell,<br \/>There was nobody else from what he can tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So Raf came aboard, he adjusted and made do,<br \/>And he soon became quite the worthy crew.<br \/>Within weeks of Raf&#8217;s timely indenture,<br \/>Andiamo was off again for thrill and adventure!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout Mexico, where there were many ports to please,<br \/>The libation, the scenery, and most times a steady breeze!<br \/>Andiamo made it through Mexico, not always with ease,<br \/>But still she made it on through Belize!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And for five moons, the adventures would continue,<br \/>New people, new sunsets, and many different venues.<br \/>Through it all, Raf braved on and stayed cool,<br \/>Especially when he added a new phone number or email to his pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The time had come, Raf&#8217;s tenure aboard had to end,<br \/>Raf had to go home and work his kitty back to a mend.<br \/>To Tony and the cats he bid his untimely goodbyes,<br \/>And to Andiamo, the vessel that had made him sea-wise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So many thanks to Raf, who helped make Andiamo a fine home,<br \/>May he not take offense to this poem turned tome.<br \/>We&#8217;ll remember the good times we shared, even when no one is looking,<br \/>Yet keep in mind, that we&#8217;ll mostly miss his cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\">Comment from: mietsie [Visitor]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\">Said it before, but it got lost so I&#8217;ll say it again:<br \/><br \/>ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!!<br \/><br \/>He&#8217;ll love it!<br \/><br \/>And he is loving it,<br \/><br \/>take care&#8230;<br \/><br \/>BM<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theandiamo.com\/log_b2\/index.php?blog=5&amp;p=132&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1#c691\"><\/a> 2005-04-22 @ 04:40<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Raf left with Miet and Cil a few days after my birthday. He had to go back to Belgium and the real world. He had spent a lot of time onboard, and become quite a good friend. Unfortunately, our goodbye was very short and quick, and I thought he needed a more appropriate sendoff. So [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theandiamo.com\/logwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theandiamo.com\/logwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theandiamo.com\/logwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theandiamo.com\/logwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theandiamo.com\/logwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theandiamo.com\/logwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11853,"href":"https:\/\/theandiamo.com\/logwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11852\/revisions\/11853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theandiamo.com\/logwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theandiamo.com\/logwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theandiamo.com\/logwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}