About that trip (finally)
Our trip to the Virgin Islands was initiated by my friend who passed away in December. She spent her honeymoon there and promised my daughter that they would snorkel in St. John before graduation. As she was dying, she decided she wanted her ashes spread in the sea off St. John and that my daughter should be there for it. So what else could we do?
I was apprehensive from the beginning. Rtg doesn't travel well and this trip was so emotionally charged that I wasn't sure that I had the reserves to keep us all even keeled. Luckily, my friend's husband made nearly all the arrangements. We just had to show up.
Three fourths of St. John is national park, which means it is largely unbuilt and under-populated, which is nice. We could go to beaches and snorkel and not see many other people, which was nice. We rented a house for all of us so we cooked at home and watched movies and did homework, but mostly we sat on the patio and watched the boats go by. It was very restful. My friend is still greiving for his wife and as a result, the conversation flowed more freely into issues of values and creed and legacy than it usually does.
Here are some photos:
This is the view off the patio
And of a beach
And of a still soggy family
There were many things historic, geologic, and meteorologic that surprised me, but the greatest thing was my willingness, after having discussed the real meaning-of-life stuff, to start disassociating from my stuff. There is a large live-aboard community on the east end of the island who make it sound so easy.
Our trip to the Virgin Islands was initiated by my friend who passed away in December. She spent her honeymoon there and promised my daughter that they would snorkel in St. John before graduation. As she was dying, she decided she wanted her ashes spread in the sea off St. John and that my daughter should be there for it. So what else could we do?
I was apprehensive from the beginning. Rtg doesn't travel well and this trip was so emotionally charged that I wasn't sure that I had the reserves to keep us all even keeled. Luckily, my friend's husband made nearly all the arrangements. We just had to show up.
Three fourths of St. John is national park, which means it is largely unbuilt and under-populated, which is nice. We could go to beaches and snorkel and not see many other people, which was nice. We rented a house for all of us so we cooked at home and watched movies and did homework, but mostly we sat on the patio and watched the boats go by. It was very restful. My friend is still greiving for his wife and as a result, the conversation flowed more freely into issues of values and creed and legacy than it usually does.
Here are some photos:
This is the view off the patio
And of a beach
And of a still soggy familyThere were many things historic, geologic, and meteorologic that surprised me, but the greatest thing was my willingness, after having discussed the real meaning-of-life stuff, to start disassociating from my stuff. There is a large live-aboard community on the east end of the island who make it sound so easy.
Labels: travel
posted by csg | 7:30 PM
4 Comments:
Living abroad in St. John? Sounds nice. Maybe too nice. For a suburban kid like me, living in SF kind of feels like living abroad sometimes. But I'd still really like to go someplace urban and developing.
Great photos (finally!). Looks woooonderful. If you move, I'm coming to visit.
-Kathleen
Justin, yes-- when I moved into the city I had just that feeling. And going someplace less developed would be an adjustment.
And you can all visit...but the point of a live-aboard is small boat that you live on, but with few amenities. But what else do you need beyond an bathing suit and a fishing pole?
What a special story - you're a good friend to carry out a person's wishes.
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