Salty Zebra

 Towards the end of our recent Alaskan cruise, I asked my husband what one of his favorite parts of the trip was. What he shared so resonated with me, that I want to share it with you as well. He told me that he enjoyed our cruise "routine." After several such trips (we have taken 11 cruises together), we have developed some rhythms to our cruise days that we find much enjoyment in.   In the morning, unless we have an early excursion (which we try to avoid), we sleep until our bodies wake us up naturally. I love waking up without an alarm! After showering and getting ready for our day, we head to breakfast, which is usually in the Garden Cafe (NCL's buffet). Here they have a fabulous array of options, including our favorite, made to order omelets. On the Breakaway Plus class ships which all have a similar layout, we have a favorite area to eat - just outside of the buffet on the pool deck near a drink station. This gives us fresh air, beautiful views, the convenience of t...

7:29am - Wake up and attempt to claw my way to consciousness, but failed 8:26am - 0.0/20 points Wake up and take my stability score. I check this each morning and it lets me know where my body is at and how I should pace my day. A 4/5 is pretty good! It is supposed to mean that I have been pacing well lately, and I have been. 8:35 - Actually get out of bed, Use the bathroom and brush my teeth. I used to brush my teeth after  breakfast in the morning, but since I've been wearing a retainer at night (the last seven years or so) I need to brush that and my teeth before I eat. 8:48 - 0.6/20 Fix coffee and breakfast then do my Bible study while I eat, or at least start it... 9:40 - 1.2/20 - Actually starting Bible study after being distracted 10:18 - 1.6/20 - Restarting my Bible study after being distracted (it's really hard to get things done with my husband around sometimes). Switched to the couch where I can sit with my back supported better now that I've finished eating. 11:...

“All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice, for those who want to harm me will be embarrassed and ashamed.”  Psalm 71:24  The last couple of weeks have been rough. I knew that coming home from Disney World would be hard because I would need to recuperate, but I had no idea what else lay in store. The pain and exhaustion and uncertainty and emotional overwhelm has been intense! But you know what? In all of it I am still so very blessed ! I’ve learned in life that what you focus on determines so much. I could be in Disney World with my whole family around me and be so focused on being stuck in a wheelchair that I miss out on all the fun. Or, I could be so in awe of how God put together such a perfect trip and feeling blessing upon blessing that I forget I’m in a wheelchair!   The author of today’s Psalm could have whined about how they were under attack, but instead they focused on the blessing of God’s justice. They weren’t worried about defamation of ch...

"With pacing, the goal isn't to use as little (or as much!) energy as possible, but to find a stable amount of activity you can do each day that won't worsen your symptoms." -Visible Pacing Lessons   Pacing is something I'm not very good at, as evidenced by my new lowest stability score on my Visible app * this morning. So why am I writing about it? What could I possibly have to offer you on something I obviously am not doing well in? Well, I want to get better at it. I need  to get better at it. I have found that putting in the research and learning to put together a post helps me so much to grow in an area, so you're getting insight into the mind of a Salty Zebra.   Yep, you read that right. That's a 1, a 1 out of 5. And as it reads below the 1, I am, "Out of balance." How did I get here? Well, I worked pretty hard at it, I can tell you that much! This month, I traveled to Florida, spent 10 days at Disney World with my family, traveled home fro...

    Family vacations can be dreams come true – but sometimes those dreams are nightmares! Here’s the good news, there are steps you can take to set your group up for a good time together and avoid ending up on the nightly news.    Set Reasonable Expectations   Recognize that everyone going on the trip is coming to it from a different place in life. Not everyone has been in your mind, seeing your thoughts and plans, feeling your excitement. It will be helpful to everyone if you communicate in advance what you expect of them. Perhaps this will have to do with finances. Is everyone paying their own way? Part of it? What is each person going to be responsible for? Maybe it has to do with the schedule. What events on the trip are really important for everyone to be at, what are optional, and what really doesn’t matter at all? How are you all going to communicate? A group text? Phone calls? Sticky notes on the door? Communicating these things in advance allows eve...

   I get asked this question a lot, and until recently I didn't know how to answer. Sometimes I'll say, "I used to be a... (home-maker, homeschool mom, yoga instructor, travel agent)." Sometimes I'll say, "I'm just trying to take care of myself." None of it really feels satisfying though, and I typically walk away feeling like I did myself an injustice.   There's so much more to me than what I "do." It certainly doesn't define who I am, especially in this season of my life. In our culture, we seem to be defined by our jobs. My daughter is a flight attendant. My son is a mechanic. It's not who  they are, but it's how I talk about them even. I guess it's easier to put people into a box to communicate about them.    So what do I do for a living? I am blessed to have a husband with a job that abundantly provides for us financially. I would have liked to work a side-hustle as a travel agent to facilitate more travel for mysel...

   The start of our trip is fast approaching and I'm in full Disney Planning Mode ! Those who have been privy to this particular penchant of mine will not be surprised to hear that I am currently using fourteen  different spreadsheets to sort out this planning. Why do you need FOURTEEN spreadsheets you might ask? Well, have you ever spent $1,000 a day on tickets just to have ten people standing in a central plaza saying, "What do you want to do?" "I don't know. What do you want to do?" Yeah, neither have I. That's cuz I have spreadsheets.  When you plan out your Disney trip in advance, it gives you the freedom to enjoy your time in the park without the mental exhaustion of trying to figure out what's next, analysis paralysis we call it in my family. I'm not tied to my plan for the most part (we do have some important reservations), but it gives me a guide so I'm not having to figure things out in the moment. I find that  exhausting! What do t...

  As I mentioned briefly last Wednesday , exercise is an important part of maintaining my blood sugar. According to my doctor and my nutritionist, I need to get some movement in after each time I eat. That's not super easy or practical because I'm a small-meal-every-two-hours person. That would mean I'm taking 7 or 8 walks a day! I wasn't even taking one walk most days before so that's quite a leap! But something is better than nothing, so what can  I do? Walking the Breast Cancer 3-Day in 2007. 60 miles in 3 days!  On our trip over the last week I did try to get out and do a 10-15 minute walk around the resort each time I ate, or I would get out of my wheelchair and push it around town like a walker. I always feel awkward about doing this no matter how long I've been using the chair. It's like I still feel like I have to prove my disability to everyone around me and if I get out of my chair they'll think I'm faking. Well, the truth is they might, bu...