Salty Zebra

      I think that picture says it all... So I've been dealing with digestive issues since, well since I was born I think.  Some of it was definitely linked to anxiety and depression, but some of it was just how I was made.  They really came to a head in the fall of 2016. At that point ANYTHING I consumed, even plain chicken broth, had me doubled over in pain.  I kept finding things that helped a little, but they were band-aids at best and in the spring of 2017 I was diagnosed with SIBO for the first time.  There was a host of other issues present as well including a parasitic infection and a lack of digesting protein or fat.  We treated it aggressively with antibiotics, antiparasitics and a whole host of digestive support supplements as well as the most restrictive diet I've ever heard of.  It started off with me being able to eat a chicken breast (baked over a grate so there would be no fat present and with NO seasoning), ground beef cooked the same way, and boiled/pureed car

      This is a picture from Christmas last year.  I can count on one had the number of times it has snowed on Christmas in my life.  Yes, the grass is green, and the snow that came down was sloppy and wet and didn't stick much, but it snowed.  From the time I was a little kid, Christmas has been equated with snow, even though it almost never happens in the Pacific Northwest (at least on the West side of the mountains).  Every year I hope it will snow on Christmas, even if there isn't a snowball's chance in...  Well you get it.  If you asked me, I wouldn't admit it, because sharing my disappointment is so difficult for me.  I think it makes it more real.  If I don't tell you what I hoped for that didn't come about, maybe I can convince myself that I never actually hoped for it in the first place and I don't have to feel the disappointment.       This Christmas season has been a difficult one for me, and until recently, I wasn't even aware of why.  I have

      Beyond trying out a different cruise line, the other two major trials of this weekend cruise were an inside cabin and cruising alone.  I had avoided both in the past because I was nervous about how I would do with them, but I knew that if I was going to do as much travel as possible in 2023 these were the best options. I didn't want to start booking solo inside cruises for next year though without first finding out if I could handle it.       While I'm not claustrophobic, I have definitely experienced some discomfort with enclosed spaces.  I also have an irrational fear of being crushed under rubble.  This comes into play in parking garages and under bridges so I was concerned that it would be a factor in being in an inside cabin with many decks above me.  When booking my first cruise, my mother, who was traveling with me, wanted to book an inside cabin because it was cheapest, but I was uncomfortable with it and requested an ocean view instead.  Turns out the inside cabi

      After our cruise this fall, my husband encouraged me to try out solo cruising.  The reasoning was that I would like to travel more than he is available and cruising is a cost-effective and accessible form of travel.  So I booked my first solo cruise for April of 2023 on Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL).  You see, I had only ever cruised on NCL and I thought that I always would.  The logic is sound. When you sail consistently with one cruise line you earn loyalty points that equate to bonuses and potential savings. As I began to look into my dreams of travelling every month in 2023 on the $7,500 budget that my husband had given me though, I quickly realized that cruising on Norwegian wouldn't get me very far.  Between the one I had booked in April and the one I had committed to with my son in the fall I was down nearly half of my travel budget for the whole year.  I didn't need to budget for our travel in February because that was for our anniversary and it was coming out of a