The Convivial Gist

Lint remover on my luggage bound to Southern Caribean? I need that for the same reason that a  50 year old lady needs  her Oil of Olay Reginerist.   Blame it on Pinay, our 3 year old shedding  cat.  I did not signed up for this, its fate.  When I married my husband, he had Jaz, a Welsh Corgi. Being a borderline obsessive compulsive housemaker (my self assessment, not a professional diagnosis)  , his hair  puts me in a state of frenzied mission to eradicate every speck of his hair in the house. Carpets yanked out of the floor, all imaginable brushes at my disposal (toothbrush to industrial grade) and a symphony of humming vacuum.  Cancer of  his pelvic bones set in  Jaz. Options were laid to us, give him up for adoptions for pet lovers who takes care of  diseased pet (bless these people)  or  a Chemotheraphy treatment. We opted to put him out of his misery, my husband cried like a baby in one blustery january Sunday. I cried too, I am not that heartless.  I was wondering if  I still  wo

 Living in the Midwest, my water experience and activities are limited to rivers and lake.  Colors of Missouri and Mississippi rivers are nothing to rave about. Lakes offers some excitement , courtesy of resorts abutting on its shores , it's never the same though. Having lived the first 44 years of my life in an island part of an archipelago, I always equate water with the tropical seas , blue, expansive and endless.  When my husband brought up the idea of a cruise,  I jumped at the offer. Forget about the kitchen  and bathroom renovations, it can wait. But my longing for the sea needs to me satiated. Luggage packed like any woman would pack for a 7 day trip, as if she is packing for a month.  Wardrobe, shoes, purse and accessories and still  unsure if  I covered all the checklists for the formal dinners and casual garbs. Should I bring 2 or 3 swimsuits, hmm, maybe 4 , I can't be photographed with the same attire all the time.  What will my Facebook buddies would say, aarghhhhh