Cruisin' for Caregivers

It just doesn't get any better than this!

That's one of my favorite sentences. Whenever I feel like saying it, I know magic is happening and I'm in the flow of pure bliss! That's what happened last week during the annual WomanSage Cares four-day cruise aboard Carnival Paradise out of Long Beach.

WomanSage hosted 25 caregivers and a few extraordinary volunteers for a delightful respite cruise with another 45 members and guests. It was the third time I've cruised with the WomanSage group - and the experience definitely qualified as "third time's the charm" for me. It was fun, relaxing, rewarding, enlightening and the weather was absolutely perfect. I forget that January on the West Coast can be as beautiful as it is in the Caribbean and Hawaii.

Kudos to the amazing Carole Shaw, Administrator of Silverado Senior Living-San Juan Capistrano, who served as keynote speaker for our caregiver gathering on the ship. She was an inspiration to all, including me. She reminded us about how it's really a choice to come from love when caregiving, instead of being pulled into fear and resentment. God bless you, Carole, and bless all the wonderful caregivers who joined us - Anna, Evelyn, Kathleen, Donna, Bardo, Kathy, just to name a few. And thanks to our returning caregivers led by the inspirational Patty Alfaro! We love you!

During this year's cruise, I had the pleasure of hanging out with my cousin, Dru, and her daughter, Shannon (my namesake) and our lifelong friend, Lindy. We laughed nonstop, we disco-danced till the wee hours, we spent quality time (and money) at the spa, we toured, we drank wine at Ensenada's vineyards, tasted great tequila at Papas & Beer, and we enjoyed dessert every single night. It was the greatest of chick trips! I highly recommend the four-day Carnival Paradise cruise to all girlfriends who want to celebrate life!

One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to Ensenada's wine country. Who knew Ensenada had great vineyards? I did not. I had planned to stay on the ship during the day in Mexico this year. I didn't think I could have as good a time ashore as I did last a year ago with Gary, the Bucci's and the Fowler's. Then I won a nice jackpot in the casino on Tuesday night and decided to buy a ticket for the wine country trip. It was a great time. We discovered that one of the lovely vineyards also has a bull ring! Apparently the owner likes the tradition of bullfighting and decided he wanted to host a couple of bull fights each year.

One of the photos here is of me and my friend, Muff, at the vineyard bull ring. The other is of Carole Shaw at the L.A. Cetta vineyard looking into a big barrel. She had to climb up there to get both the view AND the photo! That's our Carole - fearless!

Love is indeed greater than fear. I'm grateful to my friends at WomanSage for supporting this cruise for caregivers, all of whom are close to my heart. What a wonderful world!