Stormy Monday

Monday, monday....rained all day.... and it was a stressful day today with an unbelieveably rude person who came in....but....I can let the rudeness of the person continue to mess up my day, corrode my spirit, and shatter my happiness....or I can breath.....tell myself it is their problem....breath again.....and ask myself to make a choice to let it go, and connect with my peace inside.  I can choose to be happy about all the good things.  I can remember there ARE good things, LOL.... One of the good things is my vacation coming up next week....I'm flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico (rolling my r's exaggeratedly)....and then catching my cruise through the islands...St. Maartin, Grenada, Bermuda, etc.   Never been to any of them, and I love to explore, so I am looking forward to it.  I'm going with my oldest friend (the one whose husband passed away last Summer).  We try to go on vacation together at least once every 2 yrs as we are on different sides of the country.  I'm in california, she's in florida.  It will be great hanging out with her.  We both like to do karaoke, so we'll have a great time snorkeling, lying on the beach during the day, and then singing in the evenings.   The last vacation she and I went on....I actually went and pawned all my jewelry for the money to go.  Due to gambling, I was broke.  I had to watch every penney I spent, and it was very rough trying to make up for the lost income while I was gone and to get my stuff back (which I did at a tremendous interest rate!)  This time, thanks to being gamble-free for over a year now, I can go....with NO WORRIES.  I've saved the money needed. I've sort of been worried about the temptation of the casino onboard...but then I read eastwester's journal....about blaming gambling on external things....and I realized that hey, I could be in a casino in 20 mins right now...but I'M NOT.  I don't have to worry about the ship's casino....proximity is not an excuse to gamble.   I was also worried about the free bingo card the cruise usually gives you to "prime the pump" so to speak....but I've decided I'll give my friend the card and I will do something else while she plays it if she wishes.  Thank goodness she is not a gambler, but she does like to do the cruise bingo (the free cards only!)  I haven't told her about my addiction, but I may on this trip.  If she seems upset about me not wanting to play bingo, I'll tell her for sure! Anyway, haven't packed one thing, and I'm leaving Friday evening on the red-eye flight....much to do between now and then! Big Hugs, Much Love....Dianne