Name Your Top Ten!

By:  Marcia King-Gamble

www.lovemarcia.com

Happy 10th Judith and Sarah. You rock! Thanks for the blogging opportunity.

This crazy, past year was a good time to reflect on your life, and what’s important to you. It certainly made me think of all the things I have yet to accomplish or do. With everything closed, I became more introspective about life.  Was this new normal going to be a permanent thing? Would I be forever housebound and no longer able to travel? Travel has been part of my life.

So, what did I do? I used the time to goal set.  There were still places to go and people to see, at least in my imagination.  I set personal goals that would be priority if we ever got out of this mess.  Unlike many others, I have never believed in bucket lists. Bucket lists to me are wish lists that often never come true. I have always been a firm believer that people (at any age,) spend money on what they want to spend money on. The list to me seems just another a reason for procrastination.

My thinking stems from years ago.  I was in my early twenties, and an international flight attendant, without a penny to my name. I was seated at a restaurant in Hong Kong in a nice  hotel. Out of the huge picture windows, I could see several elderly couples all on walkers, hobbling up Nathan Road. It was one of the saddest sights of my life. They had saved all their money for an experience they would never fully enjoy. At that point, I vowed that regardless of how few funds I had, travel would always be a part of my life.  I would enjoy the world while I was young enough, able bodied enough, and have the digestive system enough,  to savor the full world experience. Since then, I’ve never regretted that promise, or  looked back.

While there are those that spend on houses, boats, and cars, I’ve invested my money on seeing the world. And as I have told those that have asked me, travel has been the best Finishing School there is. I learned about wines and art.  Travel taught me how to conduct myself  in cultures that aren't my own.  I picked up the habit of  never leaving home without a shawl or sweater. Bare shoulders or short sleeves are frowned upon in some cultures or countries.  

I also discovered that one of the most valuable and most appreciated gifts when invited to a Japanese dinner party, is a cantaloupe (or used to be.)  I also learned that in some cultures, social distancing is the norm, and that’s been going on, before social distancing became our norm. In other words. keep the hugs and kisses to yourself.  Don’t touch! Don’t point.  Don’t look someone in the eye!

OK enough of that. So now that the world is starting to open again. I thought I would share with you my top ten countries to visit or revisit, and not necessarily in the order listed. They are:

   New Zealand (revisit)

2.       Copenhagen (revisit)

3.       Russia (revisit but Moscow would be new)

4.       Mainland China

5.       Hong Kong (revisit)

6.       Bangkok (revisit)

7.       Sweden (revisit)

8.       India (revisit)

9.       Finland (revisit)

10   Australia

And there are so many more. Now we are slowly getting our lives back, what are your top ten countries or places to visit?

About Marcia King-Gamble

Romance writer, Marcia King-Gamble originally hails from a sunny Caribbean island where the sky and ocean are the same mesmerizing shade of blue. This former travel industry executive has spent most of life in the United States. A National Bestselling author, Marcia has penned over 34 books and 8 novellas. She has contributed to Michael Fiore’s DigitalRomanceInc and served as a moderator on the now defunct eHarmony advice boards.  Having witnessed the bad, the ugly, and the not so good in relationships, she still prefers to write about happily ever after. Caring for her animal family keeps her grounded and sane.

Visit Marcia at www.lovemarcia.com or “friend” her on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1MlnrIS

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The Near Death Experience

I died for a moment (Near Death Experience!)
By Marcia King-Gamble
http://tinyurl.com/l9t2pcz

Near death experiences have always fascinated me. Maybe it’s because I’ve heard countless stories of people actually dying and being brought back to life. The newly revived all share a similar experience. They talk about their lives flashing before their eyes, of going through a tunnel and of following a white light.  There’s this enormous feeling of peace and love coming over them. Some have said they were floating above, watching people gather around their remains.  They could see and hear everything clearly.

Whether you believe them or not, it does make you wonder why so many have the same experience.   Are they hallucinating as so many medical professionals’ speculate? 

Dr. Sam Parnia was an honorary research fellow at the University of Southampton in the UK when he began to study these phenomena. His findings are published in the journal Resuscitation. He thinks these near death experiences are real and that people can eventually be brought back to life. According to Dr. Parnia, death is a potentially reversible process.  Does that mean refrigerated immediately, we could live forever? 

The brain supposedly stops functioning within 20-30 seconds of the heart not beating.  Yet patients who were monitored recount seeing and hearing for up to 3 minutes after their heart had stopped. The surviving patients often described the events and sounds in a 3-minute window after technically being dead. Incredibly, their memories are consistent with what actually occurred at the scene.

While I have never had a Near Death Experience, it has to have a profound effect on a person’s life and must change them forever.  Then there are those who missed death by happenstance. I have heard stories of people switching flights at the last minute, or giving up a seat on an airplane only to have the original flight go down. Divine Intervention or merely coincidence?  

A family friend who was never ever late for work overslept the day of the World Trade Center tragedy. She woke up half an hour late and went racing off  to catch the train. It was her day to make coffee.  Mortified, she attempted to go into the building when security pushed her back and pointed upward. The first plane had just struck one of the towers.   Some would say it was Divine Intervention that she did not die that day.

A Near Death experience is something I would like to write a story about. I think it would make for a great internal conflict if my hero never quite recovered from his brush with the afterlife.  I’ve dabbled a bit in paranormals and this concept might be interesting to explore.

In one of my earlier novels, Under Your Spell, I talk about the effects of witchcraft on the Caribbean people. And in one of my bigger books, This Way Home, the heroine’s home used to be a stop on The Underground Railroad where strange, unexplainable things happened.

Have any of you had a near death experience and one you are willing to share?

My heroine,  Andie,  in Tempting Andie, my latest novella, came close.

 http://tinyurl.com/of7wgxs
  http://tinyurl.com/kfnmztl


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