Anyone having strawberries with breakfast today? In looking through photos from my recent 40th birthday photoshoot, the strawberries that top my birthday cake, as well as these chopped strawberries, remind me of how much I miss cruising. Yes, you read that right! Sure, it could also be that cruising is fresh in my mind because, a few hours ago, I cancelled our planned Spring Break cruise for March 2021. It could also be that I celebrated my 40th birthday in a very low-key way here in New York City when had there not been a pandemic, I probably would’ve been flying or cruising somewhere. Really though, these strawberries remind me of cruising and how much I miss it because, during our cruises, we would have fresh fruit daily! While I can arrange to have fruit at our house by grocery shopping, it’s a whole different vibe when I don’t have to buy fruit and other groceries at the supermarket for a week, nor do I have to figure out breakfast, lunch, and dinner… that’s the deal on a cruise! Honestly, in my daily life, I am blessed to have a husband and mother who both help tremendously with meals; however, when we cruise, we usually do so together, so that my hubby and my mom also get a break from meal-planning and meal-prep. We simply go to our favorite restaurant onboard the ship and eat. We haven’t had a break like that in over a year! Cruising and all-inclusive vacations provide this freedom that we look forward to as an escape from our daily grind. I know I’ve read the saying about creating a life that we don’t need a vacation from, and I agree with it, but I haven’t fully created that yet. I’m not sure if I know anyone who has created that life for herself/himself.

I love a vacation, and if there has ever been a year that pushes the buttons for folks to want to get away, it’s 2020. What has 2020 shown us? An almost constant daily grind! Children schooling at home while I’m working from home and having to keep the cupboards and refrigerator filled with snacks, food, water and other beverages while we all pray and work towards being and staying healthy and alive. As I reflect on this, though, I realize that we have been doing it. We endure!

Think about it, before the pandemic shutdown, if someone were to describe to you all that would happen in 2020, would you have thought that you would still be standing with the strength in which you are standing today? Listen, I probably would’ve thought that person lost their mind, and I would’ve probably said ok to the other stuff, but may have said that my family and I would “need” a cruise or some sort of vacation in there somewhere. Obviously, that would’ve been untrue. God, in His faithfulness has shown us that we do not “need” vacationing the way we thought we did. Of course, it’s nice to get away sometimes, but I think I was idolizing vacations to a degree, and that’s no bueno. So, here I sit, a few hours after cancelling yet another cruise – this one we had planned for March 2021, using the cruise credit from the cancelled March 2020 cruise. Although yes, I look forward to having multiple trips scheduled on my calendar again, and even more so, I look forward to enjoying those trips, I am also ok because God’s got me. By His grace, my family members and I are breathing, alive, and well, about to celebrate Christmas, and about to restock on strawberries and other fruit and groceries from the supermarket today. We’re blessed. My guess is that, if you think about it, you’ll say you’re blessed too! 

Is there something that you thought you couldn’t do that 2020 has shown you can do? Is there something you thought you had to have that you’ve learned to do without in 2020?

Hmmm… maybe we have been given a gift of 20/20 vision this year!