{"id":624,"date":"2010-04-28T15:47:17","date_gmt":"2010-04-28T22:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/?p=624"},"modified":"2010-04-28T15:47:17","modified_gmt":"2010-04-28T22:47:17","slug":"the-height-of-confrontation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/?p=624","title":{"rendered":"The Height of Confrontation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AT SEA ON THE CELEBRITY MILLENNIUM \u2014 There are always challenges in life for somebody who grew up afraid of&#8230;well, everything, but especially heights and water. For most of the world it may seem ridiculous, but trust me, it&#8217;s a problem.<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago, taking my three-year-old grandson in the swimming pool was one such situation. Even at three, he knew he DARE not venture past the number &#8220;four&#8221;\u00a0 in the pool, as in four feet deep, because doing so meant &#8220;That&#8217;s it, we&#8217;re outta here!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Cruise ships have, in some ways, helped to alleviate those fears. The same person who was so afraid of heights and water was seen comfortably <a rel=\"attachment wp-att-671\" href=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/2010\/04\/the-height-of-confrontation\/over-balcony\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-671\" title=\"over balcony\" src=\"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/over-balcony.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"320\" \/><\/a>snapping pictures going through the Panama Canal, riding an aerial tram 1,000 feet up and 1,000 feet down in Costa Rica, and easily leaning over the railing on her 8th-floor balcony on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.celebritycruises.com\/home.do\">Celebrity Millennium<\/a>. Watching the dolphins frolic in the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean and the sea turtles floating by lazily was fairly comfortable from Deck 11, and I was only a little queasy riding glass elevators that seem to hang over the waves.<\/p>\n<p>That relief from fear probably began about a decade ago, river cruising through the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.midicanal.com\/\">Midi Canal<\/a> in France. When there are only two of you, and one has to drive the boat, well, do the math. I was the &#8220;crew&#8221; handling the ropes through 64 locks&#8230;yes, jumping on and off the boat, fishing the rope out of the water, and tying them to the bollards.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8221; say that to conquer a fear you have to confront it, and I&#8217;m giving it my best shot. The height thing didn&#8217;t exist on the Midi Canal trip&#8230;but you know what &#8220;they&#8221; say about small steps. I&#8217;ve realized that confronting that fear from the luxury of the Millennium&#8217;s Deck Eight balcony is a giant leap, if you&#8217;ll excuse the pun.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s it&#8230;I&#8217;m done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AT SEA ON THE CELEBRITY MILLENNIUM \u2014 There are always challenges in life for somebody who grew up afraid of&#8230;well, everything, but especially heights and water. For most of the world it may seem ridiculous, but trust me, it&#8217;s a problem. A few years ago, taking my three-year-old grandson in the swimming pool was one&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/?p=624\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Height of Confrontation<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,19,15],"tags":[71,35,104,105],"class_list":["post-624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people","category-ships","category-stories","tag-celebrity","tag-cruises","tag-fear-of-heights","tag-fear-of-water","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}