Sober Cruise is God's excuse to get us together

I am overwhelmed with the letter I just received....

Hello Snow, 

I know this may seem a little out of the ordinary. I actually do not even know where to begin with what I want to say. I guess if I just spill my guts the words will come to me as I write this. I have had been struggling for a few years to have a better relationship with my higher power. Every time my husband and I get home from the Halloween Gratitude Cruise I seem to feel spiritually inspired but was having difficulty building that bond. The last couple of weeks have been somewhat difficult for me. On May 14th My youngest son,  celebrated his 19th birthday. Much to my dismay, from a detox center. I was in complete and utter shock when I received the phone call. My son had admitted himself on May 13th and was there for 8 days. I had always assumed being an alcoholic/ addict that one if not both of my children would have my addictive characteristics. While in detox he called and asked if he could come to Florida and stay with us. Well, as much as I wanted to open our home to him like most Mothers want to do for their babies. I knew that was not something we could do. I can not risk my recovery or my husbands. If I was going to help him I knew I needed to give him more help. He needs treatment, sobriety, spiritual guidance, help. He need's to learn how to live with recovery. I spent many hours in tears just praying to God for help. Please God help me find the strength to stay sober during this. Please God guide me in my recovery, so I may help my son. Please God, Help me find the help my son needs. This is all foreign to me. I never went to treatment. I never spent time in a detox. By the grace of God I have never experienced a relapse. I was able to stay clean & sober by attending meetings, support from other alcoholics & addicts, my husband and guidance from my sponsor. Please God.... Then, the light popped on in my head. There you were. Standing there with open arms. Introducing  me and my husband to all of these strangers with sobriety and living "normal" lives. I went over and over in my head all the names and faces of the people from the cruise. Who can help my son??? Stevie B, Jerry & John that's who. They have a faith based program. JC's recovery house not even 3 miles from our home. So, I called Ray told him our situation and he informed me there is one last bed open and that my son is welcomed to it. On May 21st. My son left detox and moved right into JC's. I have always believed God has a plan for everyone, regardless of my relationship with him.  People are put in our lives for a reason.. Many  signs from God made me know my son is in the right place. That brings me back to why I am writing you. If it was not for you and your gratitude cruise, your enormous genuine gratitude for sobriety and your relationship with your higher power. I do not believe my son would be in JC's. He might be stuck in some poorly supervised non-spiritual rehab in Massachusetts. I know it's a little soon to believe my son won't just go right back out as soon as he is finished with his time at JC's but in the mean time he is happy, sober and building his own relationship with his higher power. He told me the other day that for the first time in years he prayed and it made him feel good inside. So for now, we have hope. I never in a million years would have believed that I would want a better relationship with God. But, I have woken up everyday full of gratitude and prayed. It feel's good, really good. Last night I went to a meeting with my son for the first time and finally a huge weight was lifted off of me. I believe You were put in my life 3 years ago because God had a plan for us. So for that I Thank you. You have helped me save myself and my son and I am sure there are others out there that you have indirectly helped. You have no idea what the impact of the amount of enthusiasm you have for sobriety, life and your spiritual foundation can do to others. Thank you Snow. God bless you. 

 

See you in October. 

    I grew up in New York. When I was drinking I heard about places like the Jersey shore, but it may as well have been on the moon. I could never figure out how people got places in the world or in life and never knew the questions to ask or even who to ask.

   On my only trip to Fire Island, I came out of a black out sitting in front of a fireplace with a man and a woman and they were talking to me about a menage a trois. I was so young and naive, I thought it must be a french dessert. Then I found out I was the dessert. I ran out of there into the dark of night, not knowing where I was, how I got there or how to get home. It was the one and only time I called a family member to rescue me. Other than that, they had no idea the insane life I was living as I hid it well.

   This lost confusion lasted until the Grace of God entered my life and I looked at the vodka bottle on my kitchen table and realized I didn't have it, it had me. It was  a moment of pure clarity with only an ember of life left in me at barely 27 years old. I knew I was a few months past my expiration date. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix & Jim Morrison had all died at 27 years old. I was on the edge. There were no blue flashing lights, ultimatums, court orders, weeping relatives, only me and that moment when I whispered "God help me". I needed no special address, ritual or costume for Him to hear me. That was the day I was born, March 7, 1975.

   I am taking a group to South Africa August 2017. I will take my people by rail, air, boat, elephant and foot to another continent. I know things now. I have been all over the world and taken my fellowship family with me, loving it and loving them every step of the way. To say I am a Concierge Host is an understatement. From rocking weeping brides on my lap to pushing wheelchairs to the airport in Mexico, I am here to minister to my people in a way that most are not built for. I know what it's like to be lost and I know what it's like to be found. No one who travels with me will ever be lost.

   Because I am sober,  I can go anywhere on the planet. I know how to get there from here and I will help all those who don't know and we will all celebrate in ways that others just don't understand. They know there is a magic to us, but they can't quite figure out why we are so damned happy when we don't drink. The Bonus Round continues to be amazing!

Epic Sober Adventure, Gratitude Safari, August 11-26, 2017

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do, than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover”
- Mark Twain

 

 

We will only pass this way once in this lifetime. One of the 7 natural wonders of the world surely qualifies as the centerpice of this amazing trip! We will go to Victoria Falls, Livinstone Island and much more. Our trip to Kenya in 2011 was life changing and this adventure has the promise of the same. Africa changes your soul! Details emailed on the Happy Destiny Newsletter on May 17.

You can sign up for the newsletter on the home page of www.sobercelebrations.com.

 

 

 

The Last 25,000 Miles in the God Bubble

Travel is a risk. It asks you to leave your comfort zone of all things that define “home” things that give you false security and help you pretend that nothing will ever change or scare you. Some people are afraid to travel because they are afraid they will die.  Since I was raised from the death of addiction by a loving God who saw me in the Lost and Found, I am not afraid of dying, I’ve done that already.  I’m afraid of not having lived.

Almost 50 brave sober alcoholics joined me in March to Australia & New Zealand as we passed the 45^th parallel twice in one week to see mysteries, ancient forests with 1200 year old trees, take once in a lifetime photographs and see things where no camera was allowed.

At the beginning of the journey, after connecting with our brothers and sisters in the Sydney group via the internet, we met for dinner and a meeting.  When asked if there were any out of towners, 30 people from different states in the USA raised their hands. As we said our names and states, it was awesome that our program traveled us so far together.

The next day, the first of our many private tours, began at the Sydney Opera House. We tiptoed through piano tuning as they prepared for an evening performance (they have 40 a week in the many venues). It was a delicious preview of what was to come. The tour information about all the roof tiles detailed what an extraordinary piece of architecture it was. A contest to create it was held and only at the last minute and American judge who was late pulled the design out of the discarded heap. That was the winner. Although the Danish architect Jorn Utzon did not get to see it, his son and grandson became architects to carry on the family tradition.

We visited the Blue Mountains to see the Three Sisters rock formation and hear aboriginal folklore followed by lunch at the Carrington Hotel nestled in the town of Katoomba. If ever I was in an old English movie, it was that day. I felt as though I could have stayed a year and written several novels while a John Gielgud waited on me. The stained glass glistened, the antiques stood proud and polished and the staff was excited to be a part of the history begun in 1880 when the hotel was built. In a country where there are more sheep than people, lamb was on the menu everywhere.

The Aboriginal people have been in Australia for 40,000 years. Their relationship with nature was wonderful to hear from a smoke ceremony to animal dances, to the blowing of didgeridoo instruments.

We saw a Cassowary Bird which seemed to be an infant escaped from Jurassic Park. This prehistoric bird with a stone horn could disembowel a human. I didn’t get too close to the fence!

We went to a real Aussie farm and a “Jillaroo” a 29 year old woman in training to be a farm owner/manager met us mounted on a horse and gave us all kinds of lessons. She taught us how to crack a whip, throw a boomerang and shear sheep! She was so talented and strong as she rode a horse and gave very small commands to “Bandi” an amazing sheep dog.

Our British tour guide for the 4 days in Sydney had such a good time she did not leave us in the evenings but joined us just for fun. She helped us get tickets to the Opera House performance of “Conchita” a drag queen revue of dazzling singing and costumes, a precursor of the Mardi Gras happening the next day in Sydney.  

Our private tours in New Zealand took us overnight in Queensland on a 135 year old steamship to a farm for an exquisite dinner and another sheep shearing. We traveled over land 500 miles and we caught up with the ship the next day in Dunedin. I love cruising because it’s quite lovely to have your room waiting for you at the end of every adventure.

One of the highlights for me was the visiting with the previously cannibal Maori tribesmen. We were taken to a cave that was family owned for 13 generations. It was dark, wet, and hung with dripping stalactites.  As we stepped precariously on the wooden bridges, all lights were turned off. Only then could you look up and at the top of the cave lit up like the bright stars in the black heavens and you could see the glow worms. No photos were allowed; you just had to be there.

Many adventures later at the end of our journey, a couple thanked me for a once in a lifetime trip they brought their parents on. I am sure the parents enjoyed the trip. However, when their son went Bungee jumping off a 141 ft. off a bridge in New Zealand where it was invented, I’m sure the parents had some heart stopping moments.  

Another couple lovingly embraced and coddled while he pushed her wheelchair said they could not have taken this trip if it were not for our group. It was their third trip with us.

The most satisfying kiss goodbye was from a first time guest, an 86 year old gal who looked at me with the most beautiful soft eyes and said I had given her hope. Her life was not over; it had just begun a new chapter. Then she went off snorkeling in a wet suit to the Great Barrier Reef with some of the girls.

 

We see rainbows instead of rain and miracles everywhere when we are traveling in the God bubble, and I am grateful and thankful to witness it.

Africa changes your soul...

   
   I have traveled sober all over the world, in fellowship, in the sunlight of the spirit and in prayer. The trip we took to Africa in 2011 is still the diamond in the crown of my memory. I  have been dreaming of returning every since.

  It has taken a year for planning, adding deleting, changing, substituting and editing to get the perfect trip to give us the best experience. We will go to South Africa this time for a once in a lifetime trip.

  The dates are August 11-26, 2017. Rates will be available by next week. By Air, Rail, Boat, Jeep & Foot, we will explore South Africa in all it's wonder. Stay tuned to www.sobercelebrations.com. Thank you God, I would have missed it all.

Not Much of a Blogger!

     If I owned a restaurant, I would be the chef, waiter, bus boy, housekeeper, advertising, mailroom, art department,  Hostess, bartender and accountant. This means while I  tweet, facebook and write for the Grapevine, I just can't sqeeze in a blog~! Mama Mia, has it been since 2015 when I even logged into this blog~!

    Travel changes you. Fellowship group travel renews your soul. Think about it.

  "When was the last time you laughed uproariously? The last time you felt indescribable joy? The last time you sensed profound meaning and purpose? The last time you felt enormoulsy proud of an accomplishment? Even without knowing the particulars of these high points of your life, I know their form: all of them took place around other people." Marty Seligman.  I can tell you without a doubt, the high points I've experienced have been on traveling all over the world in the sunlight of the spirit.

  For me, the enormous amount of paperwork and planning I have to do in between 5-6 trips a year is worth every blurry eyed minute when I finally close the computer at 11 pm. To experience the joy of sobriety in other people's lives, to see the light of God's love shine in their souls, to see them be brave and do things they would not normally do and flourish because of it is an incomparable sense of accomplishment for what God is doing with my life.

 

                             “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.”
                                                       - Susan Sontag

 Abu Dabi, UAE

Oh yes, and I like to slip a few notes to Trip Advisor every once in a while. It tells me I've been to 163 cities and traveled over 222,000 miles, but only been to 16% of the world. Wow! Do they mean only the land parts? I still am in my infancy of travel and will have to make some tracks.

   I do know that it's only too late if you don't start now. The end of 2016 will find me in London, Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; Tallinn, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland, Bruges, Belgium, the Carbbean and the Bahamas.

2017 will find me on more continents  keeping my eyes open for God's  perfect light as it sits in my camera lens. God will meet you anywhere!