10 Years, 12 Nights, 6 Hotels, ONE LOVE - April 2012 Trip Report

DAY 4

I could hear the icecream truck far away in the distance. It was playing a soft melodic tinkling children’s song. I ran outside and across the grass of my front lawn. I balanced on the curb and eagerly waited. The concrete was hot against my barefeet..

My brother walked up and stood beside me. “What are we waiting for?”

“I hear the icecream truck”

“That’s NOT an icecream truck.” He said matter-of-factly.

Suddenly I lost my footing on the curb and started falling face first onto the street in front of me!

I woke up with a start.

The music from the icecream truck continued even though I was now awake from my dream. My vision was blurred and my head was pounding. I stared up at the wooden arched ceiling and fan spinning above me. For a second I had NO idea where I was… The room was filled with sunlight that burned my eyes, I covered my face….

Where is that faint music coming from??… I could hear a buzzing sound too…

I turned my head and saw my JA phone on the night table was vibrating. The screen was bright green and flashing.

That’s when it all came rushing back to me… I’m at Seastar Inn… and my Second thought was “Oh no!! what time is it???”

I picked up the phone and I heard a man’s voice on the other end. “Daisy?”

“Yes??”

“This is Kopper, Patty’s husband. She just left for her morning run but she told me to keep calling you every 5 minutes until you picked up your phone!” He laughed.

“Oh my gosh!! Thank you so much for waking me up!!… I didn’t hear the phone… the ringer is really quiet! Thank you!!”

“No problem! Have fun in Mandeville!”

(((((((Thank you Patty Sather! You are a lifesaver!))))))))

I looked at the time on the phone. 7:15 AM. I was supposed to be up at 6 AM!! I shook Markus awake. “We have to go! We have to go!!” He moaned loudly and covered his face with the blankets.

I fumbled through my purse for the slip of paper with my cousin’s number on it. I immediately called her in a state of panic and regret.

I was relieved to find out that my Cousin was running late too and was still 15 minutes away from us. Yep, we are DEFINITELY related to each other. :cool:

I managed to drag Markus’s body out of the bed. He was as exhausted and hung over as I was. We had to shape up fast. I was about to meet my cousin for the first time and I wanted to make a positive impression. Right now we both looked like something horrific that the cat dragged in. We also had to pack up our luggage again because were leaving Seastar Inn.

Once again our stay at Seastar Inn had been too short. We had booked two nights and only got to stay for one. There was a last minute change of plans and we would be crashing overnight in Mandeville instead. I was really glad that Guirigay & Sweetiepie accepted our offer to stay in the room. I knew they’d love it here as much as we did.

I realize that some people reading this don’t know WHY I’m going to Mandeville, WHY I’ve never met my cousin before or HOW I even found out about my family in Jamaica. So Here is the **quick cliffnotes version***:

My Grandfather’s brother (My Grand Uncle) went over from Scotland to Jamaica when he was a young man. At that time it was British Territory. He married a Jamaican woman and started a family. He had a bunch of children and those children had children..etc.

My Grandfather on the other hand, immigrated to New York and found his wife in America. When my father was 12 years, My grandfather sent him to Kingston to live with this brother’s family for about 4 years. So my father spent his teenage years in Jamaica.

The last time he saw this family was back in 1974. He and my mother visited Jamaica for their honeymoon and stayed with the family. My father lost touch with them completely after that. He rarely spoke about it. So I didn’t really know much or anything about this family.

Okay, So Fast forward 38 years…My little brother visited My Grandfather and when he returned He told me “We NEED to go to Jamaica” I agreed to go with him. We talked about it a lot the last time I saw him.

My brother never made it to Jamaica. He passed away 2 months later…

I won’t go into the intense grief I experienced but anyone that has suffered through the loss of a family member will understand. I decided to travel to Jamaica in his memory. I started with Negril because it was the name of my brother’s favorite Caribbean restaurant in New York City. I typed in Negril in Google search and found Negril.com. This website is what motivated me to take that first trip. I honestly don’t know if I would have done it otherwise. I’m so glad that I did.

I was at the Grand Pineapple during my November trip to Jamaica. I told someone my last name and asked if they could help me locate my family. It turns out my COUSIN works at the Grand Pineapple hotel! Through my cousin, I started to connect with a bunch of family in Mandeville & Kingston. Another Cousin named Diana decided to organize a family get-together in Mandeville and she offered to pick me up from the Seastar Inn to attend.

I have a rocky relationship with my father, so I was a little nervous. I think my biggest fear was that this new family wouldn’t like or accept me. I’m going to be honest, I was actually REALLY worried about this. I just didn’t know what to expect.

We finished re-packing up our suitcases and bags, checked to make sure we weren’t leaving anything goodbye and bid a wistful farewell to room 12 at the Seastar Inn…

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...82/Hammock.jpg

Next time I hope we have more time to swing on that hammock…

We dragged our luggage over to the front reception area, handed in our keys and told them that G & S would be coming by later pick them up. They had no problem with the requested guest swap. I love Seastar Inn, Awesome staff, warm vibe and the most comfortable beds I’ve ever slept on. I have nothing but good things to say about this hotel…I love everything about it!

Well…. except for maybe the height of their ceiling fans in the lower rooms…;)

That’s when the gate opened up and a sedan pulled into the property..

My Cousin was here to pick me up!

I stood there nervously next to Markus, ready to greet her for the first time.

To Be Continued….

Sorry, for leaving off right there. I’m writing this on my lunch break and unfortunately, Now I need to get back to the office. I’ll update again soon.

Ok Daisy we are waiting patiently love your writing. Nice you have the dreams with your brother in them was wondering where you could be with the ice cream truck. :-) Hope that Markus is better. Like his writing too.

loving the continued family meeting and exploration! I know you had me in tears and also sort of gasping in your previous report with how your brother's dream, you meeting a cousin at Grand Pineapple (when does that ever happen!), and your experiences in Jamaica just made this kaleidoscopic configuration. Plus just the synchronicity and love behind the whole thing shredded me. I guess it must be what I secretly wish for my family, but you got it, and rocked it. (ok getting cheesy here but I mean it). Daisy, your story is so incredible. i hope you make an entire compilation. I will volunteer edit it if you want to publish.

Glad you started your TR again! Enjoying it very much.

Three times through my recent stay at Seastar Inn I nearly hit the fan with my precious little fingers in Room 6 while putting a shirt on, only to pull back at the last moment. I thought of you and Markus every time .... Great report so far, Clarity!

Gerryg-
Room 6 was the room where it happened!!!!!

lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by marley9808

Gerryg-
Room 6 was the room where it happened!!!!!

lol

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I know. I was staying at Blue Castle that night ....

Yeah...I heard later that we "stole" your room! Sorry about that.....but I still wonder who "stole" OUR room, because we had room 5 booked that night but when we showed up they put us in room 6! LOL

Fun times

Great TR Clarity! Thanks for sharing.

[QUOTE=marley9808;57650]Yeah...I heard later that we "stole" your room! Sorry about that.....but I still wonder who "stole" OUR room, because we had room 5 booked that night but when we showed up they put us in room 6! LOL

Fun times

We were supposed to be balcony mates!!! I think we more than made up for it though after that.