Well, I've been on island for about 3 weeks and I wish I could say that it's been smooth sailing - I find myself missing my loved ones, my family and friends very much. I'm working on making new friends but no one can ever replace the family that I've been blessed with.
Work is a good remedy for my weakness and I'm reminded of a story that I know well but was reminded of by my mother:
My father, after discharge from the Coast Guard, got a job with a meteorological company in Boston. Little did he know that once hired, the company would send him packing to 1957 Cuba. After a couple of weeks he called his mother complaining that he was lonely, couldn't eat the food, couldn't speak the language and the water had him running for the latrine every half hour.
The Grand Dame, freed from a selfless life with a demanding man who had done the only right thing by dropping dead, was living her life large and didn't really want her youngest son around to dampen her groove. She told him, I'm sure in the kindest way, to suck it up - be a man, stand up and step in.
He did, and in the doing, found a love - several really, that would define his life and fill him with a joy of laughter, that he would change the course of his life in such a profound way that it;s impossible to think of the ole man any other way.
So, with his example in mind, I'll quit my pining and bitchin; and look forward for a change - forgetting for the moment what lay behind me; after all I don't want to fail to recognize any opportunity for joy that may present itself in this moment.
And, in doing so, may I serve as an example to my children and my friends that life is worthy of risk.
Lord knows I love you all so.
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