March 13th, 2020 Day 69 of 128

So, what a morning to wake up to. It is as if so many things fell apart while we slept last night. Princess Cruises is shutting down for 60 days, Viking Cruises is shutting down, Disneyland is closed and shortly thereafter Disneyworld and Disneyland Paris. Every scheduled public event is getting cancelled. Even our little town of 2500 people has cancelled one of our biggest events of the year, the Sea Glass Festival and postponed another, the Masquerade Ball. Now I am excited I will get to attend the ball now, but I feel horrible for everyone who has put so much time, energy, money and effort into making these events successful. NBA, NFL, Baseball spring training, everything sport related temporarily suspended. O.K., I know you know the list goes on and on. It is very surreal being out here floating around while all this is going on back at home. It’s like the first part of our trip everyone was worried about us and what we would get exposed to, and now we are all fearful for you. We are praying for you as we try and stay hopeful about our future as well. The captain made an eloquent announcement this afternoon putting some fears to peace as he informed us that per Holland America Corporate office, they have no intentions of cancelling operations at this time. But fear is escalating about who will even let us into port, where will get supplies and fuel, etc… All those things that we have had to put complete faith and trust in the powers that be because those things are completely out of our control. Those of you, who really know me well, know that is a very unsettling thing for me to let the control go.   Part of me wants to be home, stocked up, cuddled in and available to help others in need. But I am here on this glorious vacation with many things to look forward to and feeling very well taken care of at this point. So I stay positive and hopeful and pray about the right now. It is all we can do. So today was a normal day for us here at sea. Crocheting class, arts and crafts, tutoring, schoolwork, music trivia and gym time. Today mom and I sprinkled in some time to relax in the sun poolside and enjoy the beauty of where we are. Then it was off to dinner and then back to the cabin for some time in tonight. Geoffrey isn’t feeling 100% and we are going to love and respect his need for some rest and relaxation and give him a night off. It is also the conclusion of another “leg” of this trip so we had the opportunity to show a little love through tipping our beloved staff members that take such great care of us day in and day out. Makes us happy to bless others and it is a great example to the girls. We also got excursion options from Holland America for our upcoming ports that we added to next week’s itinerary. Some fun and exciting things that we have never done before, but you will have to wait to hear about them when we get to do them. We talked through them at dinner and were able to get them booked through the app before we left the dinner table. Gotta love technology!! O.K. off to spend some cuddle time, to get some good rest, and see what the day holds for us tomorrow. Please take a deep breath everyone. I know these are crazy and stressful times. Love each other and show the compassion to others you would like shown to you. Love, Hugs and Prayers…Debra