Welcome … there’s a chill in the air, despite the usual sunny and warm Florida temperatures. It’s a nice change.
Sumatra coffee is brewing, find a mug for a cup. Hot tea and herbal tea is steaming too. I’m having a cappuccino. The photo on the left shows a cup I enjoyed many times on board at Cafe Baci. I’m sure we’ve all had our fill of Christmas cookies. I know I have.
It was a whirlwind holiday season for me. We hadn’t traveled for many years to see family. It was easier and much more comforting to have family visit us. This year, we attempted a road trip.
It was quite an adventure. There was much to see in the 8 1/2 hours it took to get to our destination. Despite getting lost even with a GPS, we arrived safely.
Our hotel was grand. The decorations were stellar. I was concerned it wouldn’t feel like Christmas, but it did—kudos to Hilton.
I spent time with grandkids, great-grandchildren, and my incredible daughter. Christmas is about the little ones. They were excited and filled with the wonder of starry lights in their eyes.
Many wonderful, exciting, and unexpected things happened during this time. We need connections in our lives during family moments. It has reaffirmed that, sometimes, great things will come to those who wait and have faith in humankind.
Life is rich and abundant.
Nature provides us with beauty, joy, and visual colors. It’s time. It is time to observe the things surrounding us.
If you look, you can see that people add variety to life. Observe the many colors, shapes, sizes, and personalities of creation. The variety we see when we look, really look, makes life exciting and unpredictable.
Life is never dull because of it.
May your life be filled with wondrously magical moments of adventure during this New Year, 2024.
In Love and Light,
Namaste,Isadora 🙏🏻
Namaste
I honor the place in you
in which the entire universe dwells.
I honor the place in you
which is of Love, and of Truth,
of Light and of Peace.
When you are in that place in you
and I am in that place in me.
We are One.
Not where I breathe, but where I “LOVE”– “I “LIVE”.
Namaste I honor the place in you in which the entire universe dwells. I honor the place in you which is of Love, and of Truth, of Light and of Peace. When you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me. We are One.
It rains every day in Florida during the summer. There’s a pattern to the summer rainfall.
Mornings are sunny while afternoons are cloudy until about 2 p.m.; then, we get a downpour of rain followed by sunny skies once again. Of course, this pattern changes when there’s a hurricane or tropical storm brewing in the gulf, all part of the summer weather pattern. So far this year there haven’t been any.
What we do have is rain … and more rain … and more rain. My feet have almost changed into flippers.
I’m not a fan of rain. It brings my spirits down. Cloudy, gloomy days drain my energy and enthusiasm. I need to see bright sunny days. I want to see sunshine rays sparkle on the water behind my home. I want to hear the birds singing.
Don’t get me wrong. I know that flowers and trees need rain. My orchids shout that. My grass is a very, very healthy green too. I know there are dry arid places with shortages of water that would cherish this rain.
In fact, I enjoy the rain. I know that’s a contradiction. But, I can take a nap (yes … nap) and listen to the rain falling as it taps rhythmically on my roof and windows. However, its been a long, long time since I’ve seen the sun. Too many days for me to count.
I’m sure you’re wondering – What does rain have to do with nurturing?
I’m glad you asked.
Today, while I was sitting on my patio, I began to look at rain differently. The heavy showers reminded me of the challenge that rain is for me. Then, I began to see it in a different light.
Rain is like the things that happen to us in life. Every day we’re faced with challenges. For everyone the challenges are different. If we look at every drop of rain as a challenge we’ve overcome our outlook would be much more positive.
Our lives are sprinkled with droplets of problems and stresses we have to rise above; especially during this uncertain time.
Life pours worries, obstacles, misfortunes, stumbling blocks, and, at times, nightmares filled with thunderous lightning of difficulties into our lives. Stress builds like puddles in a gully.
How would we gauge our troubles and woes if we never had grey rainy days?
We can very easily get upset about these issues that life has decided to pour on us. But without these storms, how would we appreciate the rainbow that appears after downpours of rain?
So instead, I’ve decided to appreciate every drop of rain because without it I wouldn’t be able to appreciate that I’m alive and able to enjoy it. I’ve decided to look at rain in less of a monotonous humdrum way. I recognize without the changes rain gives us, life might be very dull. I decided to be grateful for the rain as it’s creating beautiful colors in my garden by nurturing my grass, trees, and orchids.
I think I’ll go out and find a rainbow while I dance in the rain ….
I think I had the corona virus from our New Year’s Eve our cruise.
We’d left on December 28and returned on Jan 5. I was sick the following day. We’d both been feeling strangely achy the last two days onboard.
Hubby had taken two anitbiotic prescriptions. I had taken three. They didn’t help nor did over-the-counter meds before we went to the MD. Hubby was better after two weeks. I was better after six weeks but I do have autoimmune health issues which cause me to heal slower.
The cruise line was an Italian line. The ship had just arrived at Port Everglades directly from Italy. It was the first time this cruise line would be sailing the Caribbean. The ship was the Costa Luminosa.
The ship wasn’t clean. The staff looked unkept. The passengers were about 80% European, French, British and Chinese. There were a lot of children.
One morning, we’d awakened too late to make it to the dining room for breakfast. I’m not a fan of buffets. I think the food always looks unappetizing. There are too many choices. It’s overwhelming to watch people mound huge amounts of food on their plates. You viewing gluttony at play. But, I take a med that requires food and it has to be taken early so we made our way to the buffet. I gathered my small bits of food and coffee. Hubby was on a search for a banana. Yes, he enjoys a banana everyday. I went to sit in, what I thought, was a quiet little area.
A family, parents and small boy, sat across from me. I smiled at the boy. His hair was sticking up like a cute little porcupine. It looked like they’d done this hairstyle on purpose. He had big round dark eyes, super red chubby cheeks and a runny nose. I looked around to see if there was another table further away that I could move to. My feeling was that if he had a runny nose he might have a cough too. I located a table but as I stood up it was too late. He coughed right at me. He coughed several times. He sounded like a barking dog. It was deep and raspy.
No hand over his mouth … No cough in a tissue … No cough in the bend of his arm … Just a straight at me cough.
Since I was up and heading to that other table, I decided to talk to the parents. I told them their son looked sick and shouldn’t be in a public area with his cold. I said their son coughed in my direction and that I could get sick. I said if they could show him how to cough while covering his mouth with his hand or in bend of the arm. They looked at me like I was a crazy person. Perhaps, I was. I have a very weak and easily compromised autoimmune system. I just cann’t see parents taking a child out in public when they aren’t well. I suppose the red cheeks were from a fever.
The ship didn’t have any hand sanitizers anywhere. All of the criuses we’ve been on have them everywhere. There are times staff will come up to you and spray some in your hands. This ship was minus hand sanitizers.
The cruises have staff cleaning public areas all the time. The elevator buttons, hand rails, chair backs, door handles, just about anything people touch. This ship didn’t have anyone cleaning … ever. I remember commenting to my hubby that the children must be playing with the elevators button because they were very grimy. I’m a bit of a germ panic person so I always have tissues or hand wipes and sanitizers. I never touched the elevator buttons without a tissue. It was very bad.
Did I have COVID 19?
I couldn’t say a definitive yes. When there’s a test to see if you’ve contracted the virus, I will get it in order to definietly know. I had a lot of issues happen that could’ve brought on the virus. According to some articles I’ve read COVID19 started in Italy in November.
My travels on an Italian ship started the end of December. The people on the ship could have been carriers or had it and not known. The cooks and staff could have had it or been carriers as well.
The man who coughed on me on New Year’s Eve could have had it or been a carrier. The little boy, who was Chinese might have had the virus and not a cold. Hubby had the virus for two weeks which is the time frame they’ve talked about on updates.
I do know that I’ve had the flu in the past but this didn’t feel like the same thing. I feel if this was COVID19, it was the worse thing I’ve ever gone through. I’m hoping because I’ve been through it I can’t get it again. And, I might have built up an immunity to it.
Thank you for reading 🙏🏻
May you have a safe journey during these difficult times.
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Inside the Mind of Isadora 
