Jamaica Highlights

This is my favourite picture.  If a picture speaks a thousand words, then this one speaks a million. 

This picture exudes contentment.  Content with the life we have lived.  Content with the mistakes we have made.  But most of all content with how far we have both come in a crazy world that was stacked against us.  

I can hear the waves in this picture, so loud for the first two days that I thought we were in a storm.  The wind howled so loud at night those first couple of days, until I realized that the other side of the beach was peaceful and calm.  

I can smell the ocean just outside our room,   I can smell the green aloe cream slathered daily as a reminder of our fragility.  I can smell the jerk chicken cooking, wafting everywhere by 11:30am so that, even if you are not hungry, you instinctively crave chicken.

I can taste both the rum and the citrus in the rum punch.  I remember how much a few simple sips of alcohol open Cheryl and I up to sharing and bring back such strong happy memories of our past trips.

I can feel the outdoor shower pouring over my body as I stare up into the open sky, and I can feel the touch of Cheryl's skin on mine as we lie in our lavish bed staring out at this exact view.  I can  feel the warm jets of our 4 person hot tub as it cools my burns as I stare out into the blue sky and wonder what I did to deserve this.

But most of all I see.  both literally and figuratively.  With my eye surgery, I see things so much clearer.  But, on a deeper level, I SEE things so much clearer.  The colors and images of this trip seem sharper to me than ever before.  

For me this trip represents a full loop around the cycle from where we started.  I spent my 50th year examining my past and trying to make sense of it while also trying to not get stagnated in the past.  I am hoping that moving forward I can make sense of the past to help me shape my future.  But at the same time I realize that my past will not necessarily directly dictate my future.

Some of the many realizations I made this trip:

• Cheryl and I are way ahead of most people our age.  We have built a life of love and mutual respect in an age where people have no attention span and are easily distracted by technology.
• Although we are so different, that is what makes Cheryl and I so special.  Mutual respect and an intrinsic awareness that the other person has things to offer that we can't see on our own.  And a willingness to compromise. 
• All of our trips with friends and family have allowed us the opportunity to become great travellers.  Packing minimally, understanding the rules, knowing when you can bypass the rules, and generally travelling well.
• Every time we travel, bar none, I come home with a solid appreciation of PEI, Canada and the life that we live.  Regardless how I complain here about small things,  there is no place in the world that I would rather live in tumultuous times than PEI.