Traveling with a Purpose and the Serenity Found Within - Island #3 Puerta Platta/Amber Cove

To continue the serenity saga and mission cruise, the last island we traveled to was the Dominican Republic-Amber Cove Community in Puerta Platta.  Here we broke into 2 separate groups, 1 traveled to 3 separate locations for community interaction and the other group poured concrete flooring in 2 homes for families that lost everything during the hurricanes.

I will first write about my experiences in the larger community interaction group and then tell you about my spouse's experience with concrete flooring.

Not having known a lot about the Dominican Republic I learned that while Haiti (the other side of the island) has cut down most of their natural vegetation the D.R. has remained committed to maintain natural balance, the proof of this was in the last part of the day.

Our first stop was a school deep in the mountains up very rocky narrow roads.  Here the school kids were awaiting our arrival on their small play yard, they stood in a large circle around the perimeter and greeted us with hugs, handshakes and hellos and welcome (they spoke mostly Spanish) but this was all in English.  After some introductions and an interactive song with hand movements, also in Spanish we moved inside, small groups of our group with small groups of the kids.  Here we sat on the floor with the kids and taught them some English words using worksheets and pictures, they taught us the Spanish words and then drew pictures of what was taught for us to take home.  We then took a large group photo back in the play yard and hugged goodbye and moved onto the next stop.

The second stop was at a re-purposed train station, built in 1860s by the Germans to meet members of the Civil Defense for the Island.  This amazing group are all volunteers, they are tasked with maintaining a defense warning system with natural disaster is imminent.  They usually have about 80 volunteers at the ready at any given time, but during prior to the hurricane they swelled their ranks to several hundred in order to properly prepared.  They were an amazing group of men and women.  They were presented with 2 new high powered chain saws, to replace the ones that died in the aftermath of cleanup from the 2 hurricanes.

The third stop was one of my favorites of these 3 islands, here we visited a nature preserve high up in the hills.  The Dominican Republic is major producer of mahogany, as well as various tropical fruits, when the hurricanes hit a large portion of fully matured vegetation was destroyed a with that a way of life.  As cleanup began, they made the choice to collect as many seeds, seedlings and live shoots as possible from the mahogany trees and nurture them for replanting.  That's what we did.  We replanted 490 seeds and seedlings in less than a hour and half.  We also learned about an incredibly delicious fruit called sour sop, really odd looking outside and sticky gooey sweetness on the inside.

I promised you in the beginning that I would tell you about my husband's concrete flooring mission.  Along with about 30 others (including volunteers from the community and the cruise line staff) they mixed and laid down concrete floors in 2 homes that had been rebuilt just that morning by Habitat for Humanity volunteers.  Family #1 was a family of 7, mother, father and 5 kids, their home had been destroyed by the hurricanes, they picked up as many pieces as possible strung them together with tarps as their roof, not really full walls and lived that way until last week.  The home now has a kitchen, living/dining area, bathroom and 2 bedrooms (1 for the parents, 1 the kids).  They were overwhelmed with gratitude and through interpreters expressed their thanks.  While my husband was working on the floor, one of the young children came up to him and kept pointing at his ears, with a confused look on her face.  My husband realized that she had never seen hearing aids (his are actually quite small and in the ear), through an interpreter they explained to her what they were, she smiled, shook her head and moved onto the next thing.  My husband was very affected by this small interaction and I always believe that it's the small interactions that sometimes have the greatest effect on us.

The second family was a man who was 103 years old and lived in his house with his daughter and her family.

These experiences of moving within worlds that we don't usually inhabit provide us with the ability to not only help whose who need it most, but also see how overwhelmingly lucky we all are and how much we take it for granted in our every day lives.

This blog is about finding serenity in our lives and these experiences have enabled me to breath deeply, locate the joy the surrounds me and find serenity within myself.

Find your serenity by taking a hard look at the world that surrounds you and locating something inside that we give you the opportunity to give back!

Traveling with a Purpose and the Serenity Found Within Island #2-St. Thomas

Day 5(Island #2) of our the Cruise found us at U.S. Virgin Islands - St. Thomas.  This was the place that touched my heart the most.

Here we participated in 2 separate activities.  The first being a "Baby Shower", a health-fair and activities for 300 Headstart children.  Prior to the cruise beginning, Princess Cruise line sent out an email to all passengers with a link to a specific Amazon site that would allow them to purchase much need infant items for the under-served women of St. Thomas, the Fathom participants were also asked to purchase items through the site as well as bringing donated items with them (it was your choice, no one was required to participate in the donation process).  When we docked at St. Thomas a large section of the immediate area had been decorated with canopies and tents, balloons and signs that indicated a "BABY SHOWER" was going to happen.  There was also a RV for healthcare screens set up by the Health Ministry of the U.S. Virgin Islands, staffed by volunteer doctors and nurses, a youth steel drum band, a youth dance group and a incredible dancer on stilts in full Carnival Costume.  $15,000 worth of infant related items were donated by passengers, Fathom, Princess Cruises and Carnival Corporation.

The 110 volunteers were broken up into a couple of different groups, 2 groups staffed the distribution of baby supplies to the 300 women who came with their newborn babies and the 3rd group, which is where I was were assigned to, helped with the 300 3-4 year old children who had arrived by bus with a look of absolute fear and uncertainty on their faces.  Within a few minutes of sitting on the ground with them and listening to the music and chatting away their smiles broke through.  I sat with 3 3 year old kids who got facepainting of dragons (boys) and butterflies and flowers (girls), I took their photos with my IPhone, showed them the photos and watched them scroll through my other photos.  We laughed, we danced, we drank cups of water, we chatted about what we wanted to be when we grew up and when it was time to go I was surrounded my toddlers who hugged me and smiled.  They didn't care that they didn't have the latest and greatest new technology, they didn't care that they didn't get a juice package or cookies, or some new outfit, all they cared about was that they could dance, sing and hug strangers who cared for them over an hour and a half.

The 2nd stop was at a Boys and Girls Club, here we met with youth and teenagers who were happy that they got out of school for the day, who were enthralled to sit with us and tell us their stories of life before and after the hurricanes.  While they talked about how frightening it was during the actual storms, they also were quick to move onto what happened after during cleanup and a few of them mused that they were a little sorry when the schools reopened and they had to go back to their classrooms.  They didn't dwell on the lack of electricity (some places still haven't come back yet), but they did talk about missing pets, houses that were destroyed, families that are still separated, how places like the Boys and Girls Club have given them a place to find friends and be themselves for a few hours each day.  They spoke about their favorite sports, baseball, basketball and soccer.  I spoke with one young girl whose family had just bought a new home right before the storm but hadn't moved in yet and still have moved into it since it now has no roof and rats have taken residence in the home, they are living with other family members.  I asked her what her favorite subject was in school and she told me reading, she loved to read and that's what has helped her throughout these past few months.  She also told me she wanted to be a chef.  Specifically she wanted to be a chef with her own restaurant in Orlando Florida, because that where Disney World is.

The women who received supplies for their infants, the 300 Headstart kids, the people who visited the Health Screening RV, the youth dancers, steel drum band, the kids & teens at the Boys & Girls Club, they were filled with joy, filled with smiles and true appreciation for the kindness of a bunch of strangers.  There was no questions about why, there was none of the divisiveness that has plagued our country this past year, there was no talk about why the hurricanes happened or the recovery efforts afterward, it was simply smiles, thank yous and lots and lots of hugs.

How can an experience like this not fill a person with serenity?  I know that I returned to the ship wanting to do more, hug more, smile more.  When people asked me what I did on shore that day, I'm sure that I probably bored them with my experiences, but you what?  I don't really care because if they could feel the joy coming off me then I know that it was a successful day, actually it was successful because of the joy I felt whether or not a stranger felt it as well.

Feel the Serenity when you give of yourself to others surrounding you.

Check back tomorrow for the last of the Island experiences.

http://www.fathom.org

Traveling with a Purpose and the Serenity Found Within - St. Maarten

Normally I write my about how to find serenity in my everyday life but today I want to reflect on the experiences I have had throughout the past week and for the next 3 days I will post about each days experiences.

Last week I traveled on the Crown Princess with Fathom, an organization that has partnered with Princess Cruise Line to provide relief to island communities throughout the Caribbean. There were 110 passengers out of the 3000 aboard the ship that provided relief help in 3 of the 4 ports of call.

Our first stop was the island of Antigua-this was the only port where we just explored, shopped and relaxed. It was extra fun for my husband and I to see the changes that have occurred since we were there over 35 years ago on our honeymoon. Back then it was just a small secluded island with a few hotels now it’s a popular resort destination with a lot of tourists.

Stop number 2 was our first relief project-St. Maarten(we were on the Dutch side, there’s also a French side). This island was hit hard by both hurricanes. Here our our first task was a remote beach cleanup. What made this beach so important was it was the nesting place for 3 separate species of sea turtles, all on the endangered list. We learned that when they come on shore to lay eggs if they encounter unknown obstacles they turn around and return to the ocean and don’t nest, hence their endangered status. So we spent an hour and half removing over a ton of plastic, styrofoam, fishing lines, debris from homes destroyed during the hurricane and a damaged plastic single person kayak that was partially buried in the sand. All of this debris was carried in from the Atlantic Ocean. Towards the end of the cleanup one of my friends started chatting with a beautiful young woman who was came down to beach with her dog when she saw the crowd of people. She had moved to St. Maarten 7 years ago from Holland and told us how frightening the 1st hurricane was and what a mistake she had made not evacuating and that when the 2nd one approached she packed what she could and returned to Amsterdam. She told us that the island looked like a war zone. She then thanked us for what we were doing but it she had to get going to her therapy for post-trauma victims and although she smiled through out the conversation, she seemed to have a sadness about her.

Our next stop was an Art & Music Institute, that provides they youth of the community with an outlet for dealing with their trauma through interpretive dance, art and steel drum/music instruction. Here we were treated to steel drum interpretation of the hurricane, dancers and the youth telling some of their personal stories of the storms. We also had the chance to play some the instruments and paint our own tee shirt with the help of the students.

As I reflected on the experiences at the end of the day, I found myself wondering whether I would be able to handle myself with the fortitude that the kids, teens and adults I met seemed to have in spades.  For the most part they are happy, they are filled with joy and they don't seem to look back at what was destroyed only what they have now. 

I think that this is really a type of true serenity.

For more information about these types of travels check out - http://www.fathom.org

Serenity, Holidays and the Upcoming New Year

So we are In the season of merriment, lots of family and lots of noise, lots of eating, lots of drinking, lots of blinking bright lights and lots of stress if you let it in.  The key is to find a way to minimize the stress by letting in serenity.

I actually love this time of year.  I love seeing the lights, seeing kids trying their best to behave, seeing adults passing each other on the street wishing each other happy holidays and wondering why does this only happen in December, why can't we be pleasant all year long?

I love the cold, not too too cold, but the brisk air.  It seems to bring out the best in people, but what I don't understand is the greed associated with this time of year, actually I don't understand the greed that this country has possessed over the past few years.  Why has this season become only about how much stuff we have?

I think that as the year draws to a close we should seriously look inside of ourselves and take stock of what matters most to us.

Speaking for myself, it has been a year filled with joy, sadness, some confusion, some health issues and learning that I'm quite happy with who I have become over the past few years.  It has been eye opening to learn that the only way to find serenity is to be okay with who I am, how I look and not be bothered with people who constantly want to change me.  I've learned to stick up for myself because sometimes I'm the only one who will.  My opinion matters even if it's only to me, but I'm not going to shy away from expressing my opinion nor will I back down and cower when someone disagrees with me.  Their opinion is just as important and I will always listen and sometimes I will agree and sometimes not but that's okay.

So for the end of 2017, look inward and find the joys of the year that has come to a close and look forward to 2018.  Take a deep deep breath, close your eyes, inhale the smells of the foods and aromas that surround you, listen to the sounds of friends and family and you will find your serenity.  I know that I always do.

JOY TO THE WORLD, LET'S FIND PEACE, JOY, BEAUTY AND SERENITY IN THE CLOSE OF 2017 AND THE YEAR TO COME!

Serenity, Cold weather, Family and Food

So many of my recent posts have been about enjoying the outdoors, sitting on my deck, letting the sun warm my face or enjoying the serenity of a sunset, but what do we do when November comes around and we are faced with cold rain, winds, dampness and grey skies?

I'm finding that I can find serenity in many other ways.  Perhaps it's sitting quietly in a comfy chair, with music on the sound bar, a cup of tea in my hand and my Kindle app with a romance novel or a classic book.  Or perhaps it's simply looking out the patio doors watching the winds pick up leaves and scatter them randomly in the yard, watching the rain and knowing that I'm inside and warm and on the rare occasion that it's actually clear, it can be a magnificent sunset that I photograph with a warm jacket on or simply enjoying through the patio doors.

November also brings Thanksgiving, a holiday that can be filled with serenity if you know where to find it. 

I think that it possible to find serenity in a room crowded with noise, crowded with family and crowded with food.  How you might ask? Well, here's what I think, take a deep breath, look around you and locate the love, friendship and happiness that family and friends can bring you.  Take a deep breath and smell the food that has been prepared with passion for cooking and close your eyes and remember all of those people who are no longer with us on this earth and I have no doubt that you will find some measure of serenity.

So, for the next few days, just enjoy, take a breath and find the serenity, the love and the joys that will surround you.

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL THANKSGIVING, FILLED WITH SERENE MOMENTS!

Finding Serenity in Beauty

Over the past several weeks I have found a passion to photograph sunsets and once in a great while sunrise.  There is just full beauty and a lasting serenity in a magnificent sunset.

When I look at the photos I have taken I'm overwhelmed by the simple beauty of a sunset.  I look at the sky and wonder how this color spectrum appears and why is it different every time.  I don't really want technical answers to these questions but would rather enjoy the complexity of each sunset.

When you look at these 2 photos taken this past week how can you not find wonder, beauty and serenity in sunsets.

My recommendation take a moment this week to go outside at sunset and just enjoy the beauty, the quiet and the absolute wonder that surrounds you.

Have an amazing week-filled with colors, with beauty, with serenity and with joy.

Serenity in Times of Ending and Change

A little over a month ago we said our final goodbyes to a beautiful woman, my mother.  She was a woman who went out of her way to find the best in people, everyone was her friend and everyone was equal in her eyes.  Now we have the difficult task of packing up her apartment and parting with her things.

For the past couple of weeks my sister and I at various times have gone to the apartment to bag up her clothes(donate), box up collectibles for distribution to her grandchildren and children, find an organization to donate the furniture to and box up art and books.  I am surprised at how difficult this has been emotionally, when I called to cancel her phone and internet service I burst into tears when I called to check if it was done and I heard that voice say the number was no longer in service.

So how do you find serenity when it's a time filled with emotional upheaval? 

I'm doing what I need to do, I take time for myself, I stop when it gets to be too much and step back, take a deep breath and close my eyes and just remember the times with my mother when she laughed, when she smiled, when she cooked and when she was surrounded by family and friends.  This brings me serenity and fills my soul with joy of memories.

So when things get tough emotionally I think the best way to locate your serenity is to simply take a step back, breath as deeply as possible, close your eyes and let the memories overtake you.  It will lighten your spirit and help move you forward to the next box that needs packing.

My mother of blessed memory was all about learning and giving back.  In this time of rebuilding from the devastating hurricanes and earthquakes, I implore you to take a moment to find a way to make a difference, donate your time or better yet donate money.

Take a moment to look at the good that surrounds you and close your eyes and realize how lucky you are.

Locate your serenity and breath deeply.