Salty Zebra

   I've always been a bit of a, "glass is half full" gal. My default is to find the positive in a situation, which sometimes annoys my family, but I hope overall has given them a better experience. One common phrase we use about this is, "Seeing the world through rose colored glasses." This phrase is not always intended positively as some people perceive this outlook as a negative. They would contend that I am not adequately preparing for the trouble that might come my way or that I'm getting my hopes up unjustifiably. My husband, for example, is more of a preparer.   One of the big shifts that came to our household from Covid was the backup pantry. Many, if not most, people have a pantry. In ours we mostly store backups for open items in our kitchen. For example, if there's an open bottle of ketchup in the fridge, there should be a sealed one waiting to replace it in the pantry. When scarcity came to town in March of 2020, the backup pantry was born. It...

 When I adopted my daughter from Liberia, West Africa, I was concerned that she would be hurt by careless comments and questions from others. Thankfully, those were few and far between and neatly handled by the list of replies I had dreamed up while lying in bed at night worrying about it 😏. What I never expected was how much of an issue it would become once she grew up! When she was little, most people encountered us with her in my shopping cart or holding my hand. It was clear that we were together. Now, however, when we are separated sometimes things go awry.  A couple of years ago, my daughter and I were flying home from a trip to Hawaii. We were flying standby and were not able to get seats together. My super-sweet daughter bought me a bag of my favorite popcorn during the flight and asked the flight attendant to bring it back to, "my mom, in row 17". I noticed the flight attendant walking back and forth a couple of times, clearly looking for something, and then I clued...

 Today would have been my Grandmother's 94th Birthday, but she passed away this fall. In her honor, I wanted to share today some of the memories I have of her and some of the lessons she taught me.  As far back as I can remember, my Grandma is there. One of my earliest memories is of looking out of her window eating frozen peas and hot dogs. Yes, they were still frozen when we ate them - it was a treat, don't judge!  She raised a family that stayed close in their child-rearing years. I got to grow up with all my cousins running around her house, inside and out. Grandma's house was filled with things that told stories: spoons on the wall, knick knacks from Japan, an extensive doll collection. What my cousins and I remember with a shudder was her dragon-headed foot stool. We all swore that thing was possessed, and it would reach out and bite your toes as you walked past!  I will forever remember Grandma's kitchen. I remember coming into her house and being met wit...

  I wrote earlier about my Visible arm band and tracker. They have certainly changed my life, but it hasn't all been easy, and I'm not done yet. One of the hardest things about chronic illness is acceptance. For many people, this is why diagnosis is so important to them. Until they have that label to validate how they feel, they can't fully believe it. I know it was this way for me, but the road to diagnosis is long, and windy, and there seem to be bridges out periodically.  When you've spent so long, for some their entire adult lives, switching between trying to convince the doctors and your loved ones that there's something wrong with you and then convincing yourself that's you're probably ok because they can't find anything wrong it really messes with your mind. Sadly, for many people when they finally are  diagnosed, they are told that there is no cure, little or no treatment, and they just have to live with it. Oh, and it might kill them too. That...

I realize this post may not specifically apply to all my readers, but there will be information you can take from it, and who knows, perhaps one day you'll Non-Rev too! I've had a few years of travelling non-rev now and so I thought I'd share some tips I've learned along the way. Most of these could apply to standard air travel as well, so stay tuned! You may be wondering what non-rev travel is. It stands for Non-Revenue travel. This is a perk given to employees of airlines and their families. It allows them to travel for cheap, or sometimes free, on seats that would otherwise be left empty. Travelling in this way comes with some major mind-shifts and it's good to set up your expectations accordingly. In today's post, I'll be giving you the benefit of my experience and research and sharing some fun pictures along the way! #1 - Choose Your Travel Day Wisely One of the most important factors to non-rev travel is planning to fly on non-busy days. The busier a t...

  I've been using the Visible app with a Polar tracking armband for about six weeks now (I used it without the arm band for over a month before this). I wanted to wait to share about it with you guys until I felt I had a really good idea of how it was going to affect my life. I almost wrote about it last week, but I felt like a hypocrite writing a post about how much better I was feeling when I had a terrible migraine. I decided to write this post today because what I've learned is that this is a process and I will continue to learn as I go. I don't know it all or understand it all yet, and maybe I never will! Visible  is an app that helps to make invisible illness visible. If I had a broken leg in a cast or if I had lost my hair to chemotherapy treatments you would be able to tell by looking at me that I was going through something. Many chronic illnesses, however, don't present externally. Just search for "But You Don't Look Sick" and you can be entertai...

  The man sat near the fire as he worked diligently with his hands. Yes, he could have left the preparation of the wool to the women, but ever since he was a young man tending sheep in the field it had been a comfort to him. He loved the feel of the lanolin on his hands, softening and sealing the cracks that age and weather had brought. There was something soothing about the repetitive motion of combing out the tips of the locks in preparation for spinning. And then the spinning. Once he had begun, it was like his mind went somewhere else. His hands worked independently with no conscious thought on his part. He could almost feel himself transported to that night so long ago, but still so fresh in his memory.  Now there were shepherds nearby living out in the field, keeping guard over their flock at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were absolutely terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid! Listen ...