Vacation

A Caribbean Cruise for Enjoyment and Soul Renewal

Like many people, my husband and I have been working hard, shouldering many responsibilities and completing long list of tasks. For good or ill, we are also news junkies and have watched and listened to the heartbreaking reports of the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza while accusations fly that Israel is committing genocide (Who else wages war and then uses their own citizens as human shields?). The combination of our monotonous routine and demoralizing news stories was leaving us exhausted and demoralized, so my husband decided to take action. He booked us an 11-day Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean, and since it was yeshiva week, he made an additional payment for kosher food.

We obviously can’t change the world, but we needed to take steps to renew our spirits.

The vacation was expensive but it was well worth it.

Not only did we visit five Caribbean islands but we also joined a community of other observant Jews on the ship, mostly from the New York- New Jersey area. We live in a town with no kosher conveniences and are always on the run and pressed for time. I often end up eating dry cereal and milk for meals, so the three daily gourmet kosher meals were heavenly. There was always a wide array of delicious dishes to choose from. We agreed it was like going to a five-star restaurant every day. My favorite time was Friday morning breakfast when the women and girls gathered around a giant challah and each took out a portion of dough and recited the blessing. At home I pick up store-bought challah so I appreciated having the time to perform the mitzvah. Then we took turns reciting the names of anyone needing a refuah shalamah (healing) or a shidduch (finding a spouse). At the end we said aloud the names of the remaining hostages in Gaza and prayed for their safe return.

The daily minyamin (prayer) and Shabbas services infused our relaxing vacation with spiritual energy. We met wonderful, like-minded people from all walks of life –something we rarely do in our busy lives.

And the islands! Our excursions included a day trip to a festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico; a visit to a beach with clear blue water in St. John’s, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands; a bus tour of St. Maartin’s mountainous countryside; walking around and buying gifts at the shops in the St. Lucia port; and enjoying another exceptional beach with more shopping in St. Kitts (We’re just starting to get the bills now, and oh boy! We can’t do this too often).

A lot of fun, right? But that’s not all.

I haven’t even mentioned the events aboard the ship. Daily musical concerts, dance performances, and other shows like an illusionist and a comedian. We particularly enjoyed a guitarist who flawlessly performed the work of Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, among others. We worked out in the gym, played ping pong and rode bumper cars.  My husband played basketball. I always need a book on Shabbos and the ship provided a library. And the cruise had many more activities (too long to list all of them).

The vacation was over in no time but the good memories will stay with us as we re-acclimate to our everyday routine. I highly recommend taking a cruise vacation or any vacation to get a break from worries, work, and stress. There is more to life and every once in a while, even adults need to feel like kids again and just enjoy.

And as observant Jews, the kosher accommodations added to our ease, enjoyment, and spiritual renewal.

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Vacation Cruise to Europe

Dream Vacation, New Book, and Good News for Autism Community

It has been over a month since I posted my last blog. I have been very busy with good things. One of them is I took my very first cruise. I never thought I would ever do it (Images of the movie The Poseidon Adventure, which I saw as a child, prevented me from ever considering a cruise), but a family wedding and the chance to see Europe overrode my fears of water. I am so glad because I will always look back on this trip as a truly wonderful experience. The past year and a half have been stressful for me and my family because my father-in-law was very sick. Unfortunately, he passed away in May. But this vacation cruise convinced me that this world is filled with so many wonders and experiences that a person should never give up hope that things can always turn around.

We traveled to Barcelona and Mallorca, Spain; Marseilles, France; and Florence, Rome, and the Amalfi Coast in Italy. It was a trip of a lifetime!

The staff on the cruise were so accommodating and eager to help make the vacation as enjoyable as possible. I felt, “Yes! We deserve to be pampered after all our years of hard work and struggles. Why not enjoy it.”

Another reason to celebrate is my second novel is in the proofreading stage. Like True Mercy, my latest literary effort took about four years to write and edit. Now I have to find a cover designer and decide how to distribute the novel. Unlike the first, my second novel is women’s fiction and the main theme is self-acceptance.

Months ago, I posted a rough draft of my second novel on Wattpad, an online community for writers and readers, and when I returned from my trip, I was pleasantly surprised to find more followers.

Surely, life can turn around!

I am also happy to report that hard-working special-needs advocates are beginning to see progress in their ongoing battle to support the autism community.  Whether you like President Trump or not, you have to give him credit for extending the Autism CARES (Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education, and Support) Act for five more years. The President reserved $1.8 billion dollars for this extension. In addition, the Autism  CARES Act will require the Department of Health and Human Services to compile a report for Congress about the health and welfare of individuals in the autism community.     

And that’s not all. Insurance companies in all fifty states are now required to cover on some level the treatment of autism that is deemed medically necessary, including ABA (applied behavior analysis).

I will most likely be only able to blog once a month from now on, but I am determined to write news of interest to my readers on a variety of topics, including the latest on autism, human trafficking prevention, inspirational stories, and book reviews.

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