Its 4:30 on a Monday afternoon and the sun still seems too high in the sky to be setting in an hour and a half. The husband and I are sitting under the umbrella on “our beach” watching the boys surf on their boogie boards. We decided not to surf after school today but they found a way to surf anyway. I didn’t even know it was possible to ride a wave standing up on a boogie board! The conversation goes something like this….
Me: “I just cant see us going right back to the craziness of our life again. I need to figure out what we have learned here and when the time comes, apply this to our life back home.”
Husband: “How about we just continue to enjoy every second here? Why does there have to be a take-away? This has been the best year. We are so lucky. I am so grateful. Lets just enjoy it.”
Its a good summary of our general perspectives. Me always wanting to find the teachable moment, improve, grow, learn. And he just soaking it all in, always thankful, living in the moment. Thankfully both perspectives are not mutually exclusive. I have had more than a handful of days where I truly absorbed and held onto with care and appreciation the magic of those moments. But as we see the finish line of this journey on our wall calendar, I feel a deeper sense of urgency to, of course, appreciate our time here & to check the things off the list, but to also learn from these moments and carry this all back home with me.
It has still been busy in our tiny corner of our tiny island. We have made some wonderful memories with our most recent groups of guests. And we have more visitors arriving over the Easter holiday. Our friendships here are deepening and I find I don’t want to think too hard about leaving them behind. We have some very special neighbors, a Bajan family and an Italian family, that are now part of our everyday lives. And other friends who have welcomed us with their hearts and have invited us to countless dinners & parties. Our favorite evenings are when all the kids on our street are out skateboarding up and down and the parents are liming on the curb together. (“Liming: The art of doing nothing while sharing drink, food, conversation and laughter”) I’ve never lived in a neighborhood like this, let alone a tiny street with this much socializing. It has made life here sweeter.
I have also been working on keeping my Registered Dietitian status active by cramming 5 years worth of coursework into 4 months. I know…bad planning. With the exception of sporadic consulting, I have not worked in my industry since Shane was born. It’s challenging maintaining CEUs when you aren’t technically working! But I am getting it done. Sometimes during the day when the boys are self sufficient in their schoolwork and sometimes staying up too late at night reading & taking tests. Homeschooling has an exciting twist this week as both boys are presenting poster projects on the island to their “former” social studies classes via Skype. High fiving myself for fitting public speaking into the curriculum!
Sunday was the boys’ only day off from school since last Tuesday. We had a PERFECT day. We woke at 8, had breakfast, and were in the car by 9:30 to head 3/4 of the way up to the top of the island to go to church. We don’t normally drive for an hour to get to church but this particular church is one I have been wishing to go to (AKA I’ve whined about going for 6 months). St Francis is a small white limestone church perched on a slight bluff over the sea. Its simple modest decor allows God’s natural earthly beauty to be the showstopper. Because it was Palm Sunday the mass began in the “garden” which was a a grass courtyard framed by a 2 foot tall limestone wall on one side. On the other side of that wall was crashing waves. It was a beautiful prayerful introduction to the mass and the music of the ocean added to the peaceful serenity of the moment. Once ushered inside we chose the choir loft of the tiny building as we figured it would give some stellar views of the sea. The view did not disappoint. Behind the alter were two huge windows which gave us gorgeous unobstructed views of the turquoise Caribbean. It was amazing! Once in a while throughout the mass we would see a kayaker drift by, or a jet ski making turns. But the best “interruption” came from an adorable little green monkey perched on one of the large windows on the side of the church. For several minutes he just sat there in clear view, just looking at the mass through the glass. That’s probably when it occurred to me that there were no stained glass windows in the church. He pressed his little monkey hands up against the window, as if to say “hey let me in!”. Then he leaped onto the neighboring tree and climbed away. The priest was warm and inviting and the entire congregation enthusiastically sang “We are the World” as the recessional. It was 1985 all over again & I belted out every line much to my children’s embarrassment.
After church we treated ourselves to a pretty swanky lunch at a gorgeous restaurant on the beach. It. Was. Amazing. I am still dreaming about my Mahi with grilled vegetables and the warm bread (dang it is so hard to find good bread here!). We followed that up with a trip to our friend’s beach cafe (One Eleven East) where we sat in the sun and devoured chocolate croissants. Life is wonderful.
Collin had been mentioning off and on all day that his ear hurt. It was a mild enough complaint, and I knew he was happy most of the day, so it was easy to ignore. But while at the cafe he really got pretty worked up about it. We were way North on the island & there happened to be an excellent medical clinic just minutes from where we were so I decided to take him in. $150 later…. swimmers ear. Just as I had suspected. He prescribed $30 ear drops which of course I bought at the pharmacy right way because I’m a good mom. Only to discover I had the exact drops at home in the medicine cabinet. And now he’s back in the ocean….no ear plugs! Bad mom.
Oh and the snorkel stuff as my blog image? We are snorkeling more. Its about time! Have seen colorful fish and plenty of green turtles! Somebody thought this was an effective way of drying the gear. It dried – but also broke the clothesline. Island life problems!