Have you ever been on a cruise?

We have taken a few cruises and I honestly thought I would hate it. I really had no interest in being stuck on a ship with that many people. I don't like crowded areas, I don't like having to be somewhere at a certain time. And I really like the freedom of just doing what I want to do whenever. I also like my space which if there is one thing you will pay dearly for on a cruise ship it is space.

Well when our kids were younger we decided that we were going to try out a land/sea package from Disney. When we booked the trip I was really nervous about the cruise part of it. Not because of being on the water. I love being on the water. But kind of for all those other reasons I just mentioned. This was a short cruise for 3 or 4 days and I thought I was going to hate it. I was so exhausted from walking all over the parks when we got to the cruise ship I was relieved that I wouldn't have to walk anymore. LOL wrong...cruise ships are huge, they are like cities! And I quickly discovered that anything I wanted was on the cruise ship and for the most part it was included. And the food...WOW the food was simply amazing! The service...this was again something I didn't expect. I don't know what I expected but I didn't expect the 5 star service that we got from everyone on the ship that had only one job to make sure we were having an amazing time. It was really amazing...

Why am I telling you about this on our Shop Local Delmarva Blog? Well I tried something that I really didn't want to do and assumed I would hate. I stepped outside of my comfort zone and I didn't just enjoy it, I had an extremely relaxing and really enjoyable time. So much so we went on 3 more cruises after the first one each a little longer. We have had great experiences on each one that we went on.

On a cruise just like our community you can be involved as you want to. You can go to shows, fancy dinners, movies, activities, get off the boat, stay on the boat, pool, eat 10 times a day which I did, or nothing at all - really. With our community it is much the same. You can choose to be really involved or not.

Many of the people that I see complain all the time about things never want to get involved or make any effort to make a change. And then there are those who volunteer their time and money and yet rarely complain about things. Instead they go out and make a difference. You might really enjoy doing something different and you may really enjoy making a difference.

There are many different clean up efforts and events that take place in our community. We have had many people and organizations that post all of the time looking for help and volunteers as well. Shop Local Delmarva is happy to help promote these events and try to bring more attention to them. If you have something you would like us to help highlight with one of our blogs email us at info@shoplocaldelmarva.com

Our Shop Local Delmarva Scholarship

AND if you haven't heard we are giving away $1,000 to a local student from our Supporters, Partners, and Sponsors. For all the details just click here.

Submissions will be accepted through Aug. 31, 2022,

The winning recipient will be announced by the end of September 2022. Entries will be judged by a team of community members from Shop Local Delmarva.

Students in Wicomico, Worcester, Somerset, Dorchester, Talbot, Caroline, Accomack, Sussex and Kent counties are invited to enter.

David

Shop Local Delmarva

And don't forget our Supporters, Partners, and Sponsors.

You may notice certain businesses are highlighted and standout not only in the directory but we highlight them on our Facebook Page as well as our group. This ever growing list of businesses help us promote  a lot of great things in our community. Many of our blogs which you can find right here are focused on our community and our local businesses.

Many of these businesses are helping us promote other local businesses. Which really is what Delmarva is all about. I am asked quite often how a business can be part of Shop Local Delmarva. If you are part of our group you are part of Shop Local Delmarva. If you like the group and like the concept of a digital type of media that we share blogs, videos, highlights and features and want to be part of it we would love to have your support. You can find out more information here. All of our supporters, partners, and sponsors are on the rotating banners on most of our blogs just like this one.

If any of our supporters, partners, or sponsors have upcoming events we encourage them to let us know so we can help them promote them as well.

The whole idea of Shop Local Delmarva is all about our local community supporting local businesses, and our local businesses supporting our local community. It goes round and round.