AND NOW, A WORD FROM A BELIEVER

Two men. Attended Anderson College. Both dream big dreams.
One of them is my dad: The late Jay Lewis
The other loves us all as if he were our dad. Coach Tomer, #YTB

ANNOUNCING: MY LIFE ATTITUDE CHANGE.

First, a major MAJOR LIVE International Telecast in Lititz (a small Amish community just outside of Lancaster PA)

ANNOUNCEMENT: Date: Saturday March 10, 2012
 6pm ET 5pm CT (Cancun Central Time) 4pm MT 3pm PT England/West Africa:11pm GMT Australia and other nations: For the right time zone in your part of the world,
Click on The World Clock at www.EZasYTB.com

http://www.ytbpulse.com Click JOIN COACH LIVE button at that link a few moments before 6 (suggested 5:30 pm ET because it may be overloaded.) 

And now I explain the photo:

Some may wonder why I took a photo of coach next to a man very few of you recognize. I’ve known Coach twice as long as the man on the right…I was 10 months old when he was called away to the Heavenly Paradise Zone. His name is Jay Lewis. He grew up in Harrisburg PA after moving from a small country town in Mississippi called Collinsville.

Why do I have his photo at age 20, next to Coach Tomer’s photo at age 17? (Please note the difference in the ages…please. It’s critical for someone at this time,  not sure where or why, that they pay very close attention to my story….)

The photo of James Lloyd Tomer is found on page 18 of his book “The 4^th Quarter.” (Book info at www.CoachTomer.com which this writer, Cynth’ya Reed, strongly suggests and wholeheartedly encourages you and anyone you bring into the YTB family, adding it to your life attitude library.)

On January 23, 2006, my husband and I made a decision that we know hurt a lot of people who loved us as long as we did what they did, and we did everything they said. But we never got paid for our efforts. When it came to gatherings, we were there. When it came to long uncomfortable road trips crowded together in a van, we were there. Why? Because Amway taught you how to DREAM! They talked DREAM BIG! Our first Amway convention was actually at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta GA. We didn’t believe it until we saw it with our own eyes. A literal SEA OF PEOPLE! Totally, 80,000 people to quote the news reports that talked about it on the nightly news.  It was un-REAL! Too good to be true but we saw it. People were excited. People were friendly. People even may have forgotten their belongings and around all those people, someone ALWAYS turned it in, and it was announced from the stage of that gargantuan arena in the heart of one of the Oldest Cities in the United States…that some lady lost a purse…or some gentleman misplaced his hotel keys….it was amazing.

We didn’t mind the long hours, but when we came back from every single convention, four times a year, year after year, 10 years straight….we never made more than $720 in a check. It was always enough to just go out to dinner maybe, and that would be a McDonalds. But we loved the feeling of being loved, and we loved the idea that the people who WE had as our UPLINE (I used to abhor that word because it seemed we were always left down the line when it came to getting those big bonuses)….it got to the place where we said “we’re doing these things, but nothing’s happening. No one is really supporting us. We’re doing  everything on our own.”

So one day, we got this phone call. It was from a man who had the same first name as a person I was writing for who started an Atlanta marriage magazine for men called “Sophisticated Groom.” They were in Atlanta. Did I plan to write for this magazine? Did I look for some want-ad for extra income? No…let me tell you how thin threads and shadowed blessings work:

The way I found out about the magazine, it was in its DREAM STATE by a man who literally went thru many challenges to make his dream come true. We were still in Amway at the time (this was 2005, our 9^th year. When the magazine celebrated its First Year Anniversary (August) we got a phone call from the publisher ( named Kevin P. of P2PMedia) who was very excited about being part of a radio talk show, also a dream by a man who happened to be from, of all places, Indianapolis Indiana, working in Atlanta. He was known as “Mike R.” A single dad who left a strong communications position to go after his dream to be on the air with internet radio known for its slogan “All Around The World,” and it’s often bubbly shows about relationships between men and women.  

Oh…I forgot to tell you how I found out about the magazine. I was from an email that I ignored from my sister for nearly 5 months that never got deleted. After all the junk mail I received in my old aol account, this email never ever got deleted. One day, I opened it, made a phone call, spoke to the wife of the publisher working on his dream…and before you knew it, I made $17.50 for four articles total because Kevin P. didn’t have the money to pay us, but I was planting seeds to become what I wanted to do…become a writer where people would read my work all over the world. That was just one phase outside of the local writing I’d done in Muncie for a local community minority news paper, The Muncie Times. If not for the visionary woman giving me a call on my corporate job, I would not be writing this to you today. Why? Because I was afraid of what people thought I thought about things they might not feel the same about….aint’ that interesting (to those of you who follow www.facebook.com/cynthyareed

After one year of being published in several magazines that went all over the country, mostly in Atlanta salons, restaurants, church lobbies and hotels to start…it was a great experience to know that Kevin P was going to be interviewed about his magazine on, of all days, the same date as my wedding anniversary: August 23. This also happened to coincide with the date that POWERTALK FM hit the airwaves: August 23.

Coincidence? Keep reading….

Using my background as a writer and newsletter designer I was so in love with the idea of helping up and coming rising stars like Kevin P. and Mike R.  that I called myself ‘the background girl.” That is until one day Mike found out about my poetry writing and spoken word, and the few self published books that I had in my possession for “keepsakes for the grandkids” so I told myself. But he asked me to read for an entire 30 minute show, and to promote myself.  (Promoting myself was something that was very difficult for me to do, mostly because of my own, as I realize now , “warped idea” that a good Christian never speaks up to promote themselves in anything. Always be a servant mindset. Be happy with what you have. Never stand in the spotlight.” I had to remind myself one day that Christ was lifted up from the earth to draw all men unto Him. And so I figured, would Christ give His life on the cross for someone who considered themselves just an average nobody?

Because I stepped out of my comfort zone, I discovered that I LOVED being on the air! It reminded me of the community public access tv program (that actually aired at 6 p.m. and not 6 a.m.) I did on various days after working my job, sometimes not getting home until very late in the evening. Oh the rush that I felt and still feel to this day when other people share THEIR stories. It was a rush that I never felt doing network marketing. Only problem was, I didn’t own the studio, I didn’t have access to content editing, I didn’t OWN what I loved. Therein lies the challenge for so many of us…we can’t own what we love and get paid will for it….or can we?”

Well before Facebook became glamorous and MySpace was all the rage (which I couldn’t stand the idea of, and figured “all this social chatty stuff is just a passing whim) Mike started up a chat line on his radio website. BOY WAS IT SLOW!!! This was later on after they celebrated their first anniversary on the air.

One night after another anniversary show had come and gone, Mike and his cousin Wanda opened up the chat line. So I warily gave myself a user name (MsCocoDrama) which I figured was better than Gryselle Leah Bayer, my moniker for an independent underground newspaper I once edited because a friend made me once again, “get out of the shadows and into the light” with my writing….not to mention my sometimes irreverent saucy wit about political goings-on which often created quite a stir in the local Muncie paper (wondering I’m sure they were about who in the world was this 30-something community independent militant Mom?)  I eventually gave up writing opinion editorials because, hey, I didn’t want my thoughts in print to be the cause of their myocardial infarctions on a Monday morning. 

Up in the chat box, and a very primitive chat box it was, pops a name  (KEVIN).  He was very friendly, but for a moment I was thinking it was publisher Kevin from the wedding magazine.  And he wanted to know all about me.

Enter Gryselle.

Anyway, as standoffish as I was this guy was persistent! I even called Mike up one day and asked him “should I be concerned about this guy? He sends me emails all the time and is just so blasted happy…is he high on somethin’ or what?”

Mike just laughed and said, “Nawww…Kev’s cool  He’s just happy like that.” All the while I’m hinking to myself  Gee whiz if we could only bottle it up and sell it we could buy the Falklands and make it a place happier than a penguin doing the  Happy Feet dance. )

“Kevin’s cool!” Okay. Maybe God really did create the proverbially happy person who happened to live four decades and still act like a teenager on American Band Stand. And the more I got to know this guy, and when I told my husband about him, all was well with our conversations….UNTIL!

One day the phone rang around December 2005. It was Happy Kev. He wanted to show us some “product.” I said “no thanks” without even hearing him out. We were already “Happily Amway” and going on 10 years broke, but happy. Hey, we did get to travel anyway and write off those business trips three to four times a year, right? I mean the business had to amount to something more than selling our church Amway coffee and selling local group Amway gift albums and buying good old Amway tried and true products that took care of you if your last name happened to be connected to the Amway empire founders. Nice guys, but just a bit “untouchable.” Can’t hug ‘em, can’t shake their hand too long…but we did stay in the Amway Grand Hotel a couple of time…best expensive sleep even at a group rate we ever had!

By the way have you seen the size of some of their body guards? It made me, at the time, NOT to want to have a lot of money if those sumo wrestlers looking dudes would follow me around everywhere I went. Talk about being a major bummer on a cruise?!? Mercy me!

We renewed faithfully year after year…basically spending close to $600 just for the ability to sell a few products that made us very little--if any- money.  We spent between $800 and $1,000 FOUR TIMES A YEAR for national and regional conventions. We stayed in the cheapest hotels that we could find. We ate out of thermal carriers. We got a lot of indigestion, lost our direction more times than we could count (where were GPS systems when we needed them) and never seemed to do better from one year to the next.  Plus, we noted a scant bit of diversity ethnically speaking in the audience, but never any “big pin levels” who looked like us (black/brown) up on stage.

After getting fed up with more product stock than bonus checks…regardless of the fact that we personally sponsored 24 people into the Amway business….there was something missing. It was no different than going to a job every day for us.

That’s when we decided to not attend an Amway convention, and use our $500 which was very hard to come by even for a man still working and a woman who couldn’t find anything except temporary clerical work, to join a company then called Your Travel Biz. That’s all we had…Travel. And travel was something we truly did not do a lot of unless it was at a family reunion, or a business convention. We met some wonderful people in the many networking businesses we’ve been part of….actually since 1979 when our Amway sponsor came by our home, showed us some products, never showed us a business plan, left the business kit, took our check…and that was it. Our sponsor, God rest his soul, Dr. Foster, was a trailblazer in the Muncie community, and for a man of great educational accolades, teaching at a university, we knew that HE knew that there is no real freedom in a job of any kind as long as you are not working on Plan B…which we call Plan “BE” because you see a job will tell you what THEY want you to be, and you never may have the opportunity unless you stop OUT of your comfort zone, we realized, if you wanted more than just a paycheck to barely cover the bills.

Well, at least we had so REALLY GREAT CLEANING PRODUCTS!

So Kenny (my husband) and I prayed about it. And we gave Happy Kev a change when he sent us this link “WHY I FIRED MY BOSS DOT COM” It was forty-three minutes worth of stick figures. But we did like the second slide of the presentation with the dry tone white bread voice: “You get paid for travel, for tickets to events…then I just blanked out and didn’t understand one thing other than “You mean we coulda gotten PAID to go to all those conventions? We could have gotten PAID when people we KNOW went on vacations…and we could WRITE IT ALL OFF ON OUR TAXES!?”

As long as we didn’t have to talk to anybody I was game. But then,Happy Kev sent a visitor to our home. I didn’t like strangers coming into our home. Found out later on that our stranger didn’t think we were all that familiar either. But we treated her special. And in spite of her quiet demeanor, and in spite of the fact that we had this travel party on February 18, 2006 in our home when it was icy, 8 degrees above zero and a minus 25 degree wind chill, the 24 people I called within three days of our shy stranger’s arrival: We had 12 people in our home. One hour later while I’m serving up chicken and dumplings in the kitchen and getting out the hot cocoa and tea for the pot luck carry in (I didn’t know how else to invite people because I hated the word NO) we made our first $100. We didn’t make that much our first three years in Amway! It was just all very strange to me, but Kenny and I were excited, and the check cashed just fine. Only took it a week to arrive too!

 Inside of 60 days we were at the highest paid rep compensation plan in the company. Did I know or did Kenny know or our team of 12 people knows how the compensation worked? (Three of whom we personally sponsored, it just GREW to 12 EVEN BEFORE WE GOT OUR SIX PERSONALS SO WE COLD HAVE OUR $50 FEE WAIVED BACK THEN)…meaning our site was free.  AND we were getting 50% matches, everyone got paid for how well they plugged in and put the system into action is all we knew. How? WE HAD NO IDEA! But we had fun, and our team grew, and we saw names in our genealogy that we never even heard up, and it grew to a team well over 100 people.

Then we got scared! We thought “That’s an awful lot of people to train. What if they don’t likeus? What if we don’t like them? What if What if? What i-i-i-i-ph-ph-ph-phf ….Break Time!)

What I was doing was going into “management mode.” That, ladies and gentlemen, is a symptom of “job performance-itis” and remembers this is a business. No boss is looking over your shoulder. This is YOUR BUSINESS! You are not alone unless you choose to be. Don’t complain if you get frustrated because you choose to be by yourself and do that song Sammy Davis Jr sang “ I DID IT MYYYYYYYY WAYYYYYYYY!” Not only will you be alone but you will more than likely run the risk of talking to yourself when there ain’t no one to talk to….

So, that began our YTB journey.  We really did like the result. But without action, prayers mean nothing. And without prayer, actions won’t lead you in the right direction.  

Sometimes people ostracize others, and I know I’ve been guilty, when people choose another path. I had to repent more than once because you know, THEY didn’t know what we were going thru, and they never really seemed to want to question why it was that so few people of color were able to do well at least here in Indiana…or anywhere else other than the south when it came to network marketing.

We did not know our sponsor, we did not know the first young lady who, to this day—and we’re sure that will change in time as well—became the youngest female to retire her corporate job. Both our sponsor and the woman who was our mentor, treated us as if it was the most important thing in their lives to make sure we were well taken care of, and to make certain we had THE RIGHT information. When we needed them, they were there for us. Now remember the song lyrics “Everything must change….nothing stays the same.” (Donnie Hathaway)  Now recall what YTB Director and proud US Military Veteran Orlanda Moore says as he built his YTB business while in the dangerous mountains of Afghanistan…(paraphrased) “When things change they may not always improve, but nothing improves unless we decide to change.”

My husband Kenneth Reed and I came into the business at a time where we never experienced a thing called “momentum.” But we were part of it, and we watched the numbers of YTB literally explode thru the roof…until August 8, 2008 when I had a horrible case of sciatica while attending the YTB National Convention. Alas the California lawsuit. And the Attorney General of California tag teamed with the State of Illinois where YTB was headquartered. But we know there was something about this company, and too many non-logical things about it that made no sense to the public, but made sense to me personally. Isn’t it interesting that there was nothing anyone could do…but EIGHT MONTHS LATER, CALFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL CALLS YTB. The company is squeaky clean and the judge even had it written up in documentation that no one could ever touch the company again. That’s what happens, in my personal opinion, when you have a company that truly respects God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, back to my Dad and Coach.

Non logical Thing Number 1: Both Coach Tomer and my father were born in January, (Coach on the 11^th; my dad on the 13^th). My birthday the 13^th of September. So exactly 9 months after my father was born, here I show up.

Non logical Thing Number 2:
Coach Tomer grew up in Pennsylvania. Like my dad.

Non logical Thing Number 3:
Coach’s dad had many agricultural pursuits. So did my dad’s father.

Non logical Thing Number 4:
Coach Tomer went to Anderson College in 1957 without a high school diploma
My dad went to Anderson college 3 years earlier, the year I was born, and got his high school diploma 3 years before I was born.

Non-logical Thing Number 5:
Both Coach Tomer AND my dad were studying to be ministers, but death cut my dad’s studies short. Coach’s mother’s death was in his mind with his mother’s words on her death bed “Go out and  find something that will make this country a better place.”

Non-logical Think Number 6:

I would commute back and forth to Ball State University while living at home and just while growing up in Anderson IN, only minutes where both my dad, and Coach Tomer, went to college. I drove by the very places and can identify locations from Coach’s book “The 4^th Quarter” where Coach lived, where he had businesses in both Chesterfield AND Alexandria, and especially the Church of God camp meetings that seemed like places to go where I couldn’t really run and play like I wanted to, because of all those frilly dresses. But the camp meeting at the Anderson Church of God headquarters was really a big deal in my hometown of Anderson, where my dad came and met my mom.

And Non-logical thing number 7, perhaps the eeriest:
I ask myself at 4:54 a.m. ET on March 10, 2012 “WHY LANCASTER PENNSYLVANIA?” My cousin in our powerteam says it’s just 40 minutes from where he lives in Harrisburg. Harrisburg is where my father graduated from high school in 1951. And he said Lititz is a small Amish community. But does anyone really recall Coach talking about where his maternal side of his family came from? Just a guess, but I truly believe that everything is about to go full circle around the world at 6pm ET when the once in a lifetime, changing all our families for many lifetimes announcement is made. And I could be incorrect, but I put the time down for a reason. It’s now 4:57 a.m. ET on March 10, 2012. The YTB convention for the first time is in September, the month of my birthday in the year 2012.

It will be our 7^th YTB convention.

And is not 7 the number of completion in God’s eyes?

Hope my testimonial does something to help you move on in your business, and in your live.

Cynth’ya Lewis Reed
Wife of retired instructor Kenneth W. Reed
PowerTeam Leaders…building TEAM SPECTRUM
Muncie IN

Come see us and join us in #Indianapolis IN May 4-5, 2012 Click here...it's EXTREME!

© 2012 cynthyareed.com
All rights reserved.

 

The Pace & Place of Change

There are people who become discouraged because they do not fit someone else's mold of success. But who says that the sea turtle is any way less worthy of life than the land tortoise. Who says the land tortoise has more clout than the starfish, or the fragile yet beautiful sea corals?

What of the predators of the deep that are so hideous that even the CREATOR gave them an environment to where they cannot even see themselves in the reflection of the sunlight in the open crystal seas?

We are different. We are changing. We are worthy of all that we are supposed to be, not what others feel in their own imagination...for their vision is theirs...our vision is ours...but without God NONE of us has a vision.

So set your pace to the tune of the change you desire in your life.
Have a wonderful autumn of change, and a live full of vibrant expectancy!
cynthyareed.com

Oasis at the den

View story at Authorsden.com/cynthya

Drop Out Logic

Question to ask ourselves:

If ignorance is bliss, and knowledge is power, which one makes the most "cents?"

Click DROP OUT KNOWLEDGE for the answer.

Race--A New Year's Lesson

Can't take credit for this one. But once you see it, the lessons learned should change nations.

Start seeing your self in a brand new way, not how others say you should be.

Just be better. Your 2009 is Just in time.
blessin's
cynth'ya

P.S. Shared from a YTB Colleague of ours out of Las Vegas.

MOVIE: THE RACE (worth the wait.)

Sea Chicks--Nassau Hatchlings at Sea

Well, at this moment I'm still sorting out the 115 pics from our Dec. 5-8 Cruise to Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas. It's my 2nd trip there this year and I cry when I come back to United States Indiana cold and boring weather. When all your town has is a reservoir just 7 miles from your house that's overrun with weeds because the city is too broke to cut its own grass, don't take too much for a sistah to want to book a flight to anywhere with a shoreline and miles and miles of sands and smiles.

But because I can go on forever and probably tick off some folks who never cruised because they just never thought about it much, here's a hint:

MORE FUN IN THE SUN WHEN THERE'S MORE THAN JUST ONE!!! Yes yes yes...I'm ready for a writers GROUP cruise. Honest to goodness it's cheaper than staying at a Holiday Inn, no joke. By the time you figure food, entertainment, parking, private butler service, 24/7 room service and buffets to boot you can't BEAT the economy of a cruise.

To get professional about this again, here's a neat article from a cruise junkie at About.com's Linda Paull Garrison. Linda is the About.com Guide to Cruises. Her contact link is here if you ever want to ask her something about cruising, but hey, ain't I a travel agent? Ask me, because most travel agents never get to travel much.

"Nada-zilch" is the case with this writer/travel agent hybrid! And, if you always wanted to be a travel writer, let's hatch a few articles together and get on Larry King Live. Personally, travel writing is more interesting than listening to Joe The Plumber softly promote his book. . . (no offense Joe...you need to join YTB! Make more friends that way. . . )

Oh well, He'r'r'r're's Linda! Personally I love how she tells the story about her own experience. And she, like me, is a flat out Sea Chick! The article text was taken from her cruise blog under "Nassau." I'm putting her link in because Linda does such a GREAT job on history!

(You Go Sea Chick!)

(The following article by Linda is found under Carribean Cruises and Ports of Call at the About.com website.)

Nassau or the Bahamas is the introductory destination that many cruisers experience on their first cruise. Three or four-day cruises leave from Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, or Port Canaveral and sail the short distance to Nassau or to Freeport in the Bahamas, giving first-time passengers a taste of cruising.

I went on my first cruise in 1967, with a group from my high school senior class. About 90 of us rode a bus from our south Georgia homes to Miami and then did a three day cruise to Nassau. (Over 40 years later, my heart goes out to all the adults who were on that cruise ship with us!) I remember marveling at the spectacular colors of the Atlantic Ocean, the fantastic beaches, and the sights and sounds of the city. It was my first trip outside of the United States (other than to Canada), and I have been hooked on international travel since then.

The Bahamas are only 50 miles from the United States. There are actually over 700 islands in the Bahamian archipelago stretching over 100,000 square miles of sea from the eastern coast of Florida to the northern coast of Cuba and Haiti. The islands derive their name from the Spanish baja mar, which means shallows. Of the hundreds of islands in the group, less than 50 are inhabited, and cruise ships usually visit only two ports--either Nassau or Freeport.

Thousands of cruisers are in Nassau every weekend. The day we were there on the Regent Seven Seas Mariner, 4 other large cruise ships were docked. We had sailed in the evening from Ft. Lauderdale, and when I awoke in the early dawn, I peeked out the balcony door to see the giant mega-resort Atlantis looming over Paradise Island across the bay.

Nassau is a perfect combination of British heritage and colonialism along with modern resorts and picturesque beaches. Nassau is located on the island of New Providence, which is about 21 miles long and 7 miles wide. The city is compact and can be explored easily on foot in a few hours. Cruise ships dock at piers on the north side of the island, a 10 minute walk from the center of the city. The modern pier, known as Prince George Wharf, is only one block from famous Bay Street, the main shopping street of Nassau. When your cruise ship docks, you will find plenty of taxis waiting to take you around the island.

When you are in Nassau for the day, you can either take a shore excursion sponsored by the cruise ship, book an excursion on your own, or use the time to explore the city, the island or a beach. We used our half day in Nassau to take a boat to Sting Ray City, a small island near Nassau. There we snorkeled with a group of sting rays, petted them, and even fed them some squid, which they sucked out of a closed fist. Weird sensation! Other shore excursions including a tour of Nassau or the island, boat trips, snorkeling or diving, golf, swimming with dolphins, or exploring on a submarine. There is certainly something for everyone!

If you decide to not take an organized shore excursion, stop off at the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism near Rawson Square. They can help give you a really good sense of what to see and do in Nassau. You can't miss it--you will see it when you exit the cruise ship pier. They can provide maps, directions, and other information. If you are exploring the city on foot, it certainly helps to know what you are looking at!

Nassau is a wonderful place to visit for a short getaway cruise or as a port of call on a longer one. It's close to the U.S., but is "foreign" enough to be very interesting. Because of the thousands of visitors, there are many opportunities for activities, but the streets are often packed with tourists. All of the major cruise lines, along with many smaller ones and yacht charters, include Nassau as a port of call. I think you will enjoy the colonial history, the turquoise waters, and the many options for fun.

When we visited Nassau on the Regent Seven Seas Mariner, the ship was only in Nassau from early morning until 1:00 pm in the afternoon, so we didn't have time to do much. We took a three-hour shore excursion called, "Stingray City and Snorkeling". Ronnie and I both love snorkeling, and this trip to Blue Lagoon Island featured an opportunity to snorkel with many sea creatures, including some stingrays. The excursion was $32 per person in December 2001. Last December in Tahiti I had an opportunity to get "up close and personal" with some rays while snorkeling on Moorea, and snorkeled with sting rays at the famous sting ray city on Grand Cayman Island in the Caribbean.

Nassau -- Facts, Figures, and History

Nassau is the best-known city in the Bahamas, but can you name the island on which it is located? New Providence is the island home of Nassau, and it is located in the middle of the Bahamas archipelago of over 700 islands. These islands start within 50 miles of Miami and stretch hundreds of miles to the northern coasts of Haiti and Cuba. Only about 35 or so are populated, and Nassau, Freeport, and Paradise Island get most of the tourists. About two thirds of the population of about 260,000 live on New Providence.

Recorded Bahamian history starts with a date familiar to many of us--October 12, 1492. Christopher Columbus made landfall in the New World on an island in the Bahamas that he named San Salvador. Neither Columbus nor the explorers who followed him ever found gold or riches in the islands. European settlers first came to the Bahamas in 1648, but the late 17th century found the Bahamas full of pirates such as Edward Teach (Blackbeard) and Henry Morgan. The British managed to bring the islands under control by hanging many of the pirates, and the Bahamas became a colony of Great Britain in 1728. The islands are still part of the British Commonwealth of nations.

Since the Bahamas are so close to the United States, they have played an interesting role in the history of this country. In fact, the American captured Nassau and held it for two weeks during the Revolutionary War. The Bahamas also were involved with the United States during two storied eras of our past--gun-running during the War Between the States, and rum-running during Prohibition.
The relationship between the Bahamas and the United States may not be quite as exciting anymore, but Americans invade the islands each week via cruise ship or airplane bringing welcome tourism dollars into the Bahamian economy.
Exploring Nassau

Many tourists believe that Nassau is the best of both worlds. It is modern enough to have the tourism infrastructure work well, the economic conditions are better than much of the rest of the Caribbean, and nothing in the city is so "unfamiliar" to make less well-traveled tourists uncomfortable. At the same time, Nassau has just enough of the exotic side to make you realize you're not at home anymore. When you step off the ship and see the police, dressed in their "bobbie" uniforms and directing traffic that is driving on the left, you will immediately realize you've left home! The old colonial sites, the lilt of the British language influence, and the West Indian people and festivals help make Nassau a fascinating destination.
Nassau is stretched along the northern coast of New Providence. The city is compact and easy to leisurely explore on foot. As you stroll the city, absorb the colonial history and allow time to look for bargains in the shops and straw markets. Our ship, the Mariner, has a shore excursion ($32 per person) of Nassau and the famous Ardastra Gardens. This tour includes a walk down Bay Street to the Queen's Staircase and a visit to Fort Fincastle and Fort Charlotte before concluding at the Ardastra Gardens.

Outside of Nassau on New Providence Island
New Providence Island is only 21 miles long and 7 miles wide, so it is easy to see in a few hours via bus, car, or moped. Shore excursion tours often combine a tour of Nassau, some sightseeing, and time at the beach. If you have spent time in Nassau before, you might want to take an excursion outside the city. Our cruise on the Mariner included a glassbottom boat shore excursion ($24 per person) that tours Nassau Harbor and Paradise Island, allowing you time to see the historical sites from the water. In addition to the snorkeling with stingrays excursion that we did, a "dolphin encounter" shore excursion ($95 per person) allows swimmers an opportunity to view dolphins doing tricks while standing in the water with them. This trip is NOT a "swim with the dolphins" program, but might be fun for those who love these wonderful creatures.

Okay, that's the end of Linda's stuff. She also adds TEN Questions to ask yourself before you cruise. Created by Linda, and translated by yours truly...in a way those of you who know my writing will only be able to understand:

“Team Spectrum” family speak. . .

Linda's 10 questions every cruiser needs to ask.

These are great...and I had to ad lib a little. . .

TEN--Count Em'. . .TEN

Q1. Who is going…not thinking about going, but GOING?

Q2. How much after-your-paycheck-deductions moolah are you prepared to spend? With YTB whatever you spend, as a affiliate with your own booking site, 99.9999% of your travel is 100% tax deductible. For retail non-travel affiliates, a mainstream 4 day 3 night cruise to the Caribbean runs you about $80 per person per day on average, depending on how much you want to splurge. And this segways to the next question:

Q3. How long to you plan to be away from your bills, your dog, your cat, your plant, your boss?

Q4. What time of year do you want to go? (Antarctica in December is NOT a good idea!, leads to another segway for the next question:

Q5. Where have you always dreamed of going but were too scared to ask your boss for time off or else you would have gone there already? What is YOUR dream trip? Take along someone else who has the same dream trip. (If it’s your dream partner/significant other you want to cruise with you, dingdingdingdingdingding!!! DREAM COME TRUE!!!)

Q6. What types of things do you like to do? Study the shore excursions on your own or with your designated travel professional who knows from personal experience what to expect and what’s offered for all ages and abilities.

Q7. What type of cabin accommodations do you desire? Believe it or not, a family of four is more economical and comfortable with a suite. Kids love the ocean view cabins too!

Q8. When do you want to eat dinner? On some ships, this is anytime you select from a series of times…from early to late dinner hours. PLUS room service is 24/7 and typically free on most all fleets.

Q9. How will you get to your cruise ship? If you want an all in one convenience and don’t mind flying, book your flight tickets and your cruise tickets as a package deal. It’s best to arrive at least one day early to unwind, and make sure you don’t miss the boat if your flight happens to be delayed for some reason. And ALWAYS check 72 hours ahead of time to make sure that your flight has not changed. (Airlines can do some funny stuff!)

Q10: Do you wanna dress up or just chill casual? From tux and tails to sarong and bikini tops and bottoms…there’s a cruise ship for everyone…even you!

What are you waiting on? It’s tax deductible if you get your booking engine before it goes up by $250 more dollars by Coach Tomer’s birthday (Jan. 11, 2009). Go to the RTA who told you about YTB and get started. Even if you know us personally, if you were told about benefiting from YTB and that person is still active in their business, honor them…don’t backstab them by joining someone else’s team and they’ve given you back ground materials to become part of their team first.

YTB Travel Network International is built on a simple yet strong phrase:
Coach’s famous words: “If it ain’t true, don’t say it and if it ain’t right, don’t do it.” Flipped around they say the same thing!

Raindance

The resilience of spirit is far underrated in times of uncertainty and change. Never should any of us forget that we are bigger than our circumstances, and more factual about own own lives than Wall Street and CNN.

To move forward, we have to all continue to believe that we are not equal to the circumstances that surround us. God is not the author of junk nor of castaways. That's humanity's mistake, not God's. We all need to beware of the negative spirits that bring about death of the mind, soul and eventually body from the negative toxins that are created when we are stressed and frustrated. So what is one solution?

Well, you're reading it. They are words. Let them travel through your soul. I pray you find your journey most pleasant, and your destination one that welcomes the positive changes you are soon to discover. Just keep on the right road. Clouds may look loathsome in our lives, but it is the cloud that holds the rain of regeneration.

So let's all join hands, and dance in the rain.

P.S. Words are all around us. But words also have an ultimatum based on the purpose of those who put them out into the hard-copy and wireless universe. Somewhere in the bible there is a passage about the power of the princes of the air.

(Truth is I would look it up but then I'd lose my train of thought to the thief called "short term memory due to sleep deprivation-by-choice, or as I call it, "Muse overload due to massive invasions of inspiration." So I'll just keep on typing. Maybe looking up the passage might help people discover a spiritual truth or two,

God bless y'all. . . that's my rap.

cynth'ya

"Else"

"Who knew?"

This abbreviated yet surging question is one I ask myself often. Like most baby boomers it is not difficult to admit that I've lived more years than I will have left. Therefore, it is time to do something "else."

But the difference, even after having been in this writing frame of mind for my entire life, and finally embracing it in the mid-1990s--after realizing that corporate America can never love me than I love myself--is that I do things for ME now. It's not that I do not love those who surround my life, but when I do something "else" at this point in my brief terrestrial history, it's the "else" that makes me feel whole.

When we as a culture of human beings realize that doing something "else" should not be for reasons of public community, or even private familial approval, then we'd probably all be much happier doing our own "else" and staying out of everyone "else's" business.

That's MY rap, blessin's 2 ya,
cynth'ya

P.S. Celebrate you.