Guirigay and Sweetie Pie’s PaRedux It’s all true and it never really happened…

[Seveen]

okay i'm all caught up - you can continue now - lol

[MoFromMonroe]

I wish all the turtles would continue with their reports. I think it's the law that you can't go back until you finish the previous report. Well maybe Daisy slipped through the cracks but what about everybody else.

@Seveen-when this thread popped up I thought it was a new posting by GG.

[Guirigay]

Thanks Seveen and Mo! We've had a lot of things popping the last month or so. I do want to close the loop on this one. I'll try to get something up soon. I'll also be breaking out a BRAND NEW TICKER here in the near future... !!!!

[Beebeluv]

yeay more of the migration yeay

[booger]

Thanks Seveen and Mo! We've had a lot of things popping the last month or so. I do want to close the loop on this one. I'll try to get something up soon. I'll also be breaking out a BRAND NEW TICKER here in the near future... !!!!

I was hoping that I would not miss those sexy swim trunks...

[Guirigay]

Booger, Why do I have the feeling you have a photo you're waiting to post? I know someone has a photo of all the guys draped around the beer wench at Country Country and I've never seen it...

[marley9808]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[TizzyATX]

hmmmm

[Guirigay]

I let Clarity get ahead of me? How the hell did that happen? December rolling up on our azzes? Let's wrap this up soon and get back to the rock...

Thursday

We wake to a sunlit room this morning and decide to take a new path. We fall back asleep. In a likkle bit. When we rise to the day it’s late, we scoot down to the restaurant to grab a bite of breakfast. We talk about what to do for the next few nights. Yesterday we had talked with Hubbity about going down to the beach for a night, hanging at the SeaSplash with them. They had talked with Jim about our situation before going on the pub crawl and he had told them how bad he felt about it and he’d take care of us. We figure we’ll go down there for a night, hang on the beach and come back up to the SeaStar for Friday and Saturday. We pay our bill and make a reservation for the weekend. We thank everyone profusely for the past couple of days. I’ll say it again, SeaStar is a fantastic place.

Percy has been around this morning and we had scheduled with him to take us to SeaSplash. We also want to stop and see Fr. Jim Bok at the Catholic parish. I had talked to my Mom a couple of weeks before we left and told her we were heading back down to Negril. She says, “Jim Bok, who did James funeral service, has a church in Negril. You should go see him.” I mention the St Anthony’s Kitchen and she kind of laughs, “Oh yeah, that would be him!” Well, we’re going to see him.

10 years ago, July 15 2002, my brother James fell asleep watching Sportscenter on his couch in a fourth floor walk-up in Cincinnati. He never woke up. He was 33 years old and a physical specimen. 6’3”, 220 lbs, fit and healthy except for a smoking habit he was trying to kick with the help of Wellbutrin. A full autopsy was unable to find a cause of death. It was a crushing episode for my family, especially my Mom. Fr. Jim, who at the time was a parish priest at St Francis in Cincinnati, was very helpful to my folks and was a key part of a beautiful service for him.

We have a great conversation with Percy about this on our way to Mary Gate of Heaven church. We will have many more interesting talks with him in the next few days. When we get to the church Fr. Jim comes out from the rectory to meet us. When I mention my folks he slips into an easy smile. We do a little catching up and talk a fair bit about what the church is trying to accomplish in Negril. He is happy with the success of the Kitchen but acknowledges that it is a band-aid. He is now working on trying to address some of the structural problems of the poverty that is so prevalent in Negril. They are trying to address it through education, which is very close to my heart. They are trying to incentivize attendance and are also doing a Sponsor a Child program where you can cover the cost of a child’s attendance for a year for a pretty nominal cost. They are not quick fixes but I truly believe the path sufficiency comes through education. Fr. Jim said that if you want to get a tax deduction for your contribution you can make your donation through the Franciscan Friars and designate that you want it to go to Mary Gate of Heaven in Negril.

https://franciscan.org/MAndM/donate.asp

We get to spend about 45 minutes with Fr. Jim this morning, leave a donation and have a fond farewell. We look forward to seeing him on our next reach. He truly is a remarkable man.



Percy has been wandering the grounds while we talked and when we’re ready to leave he comes up with a handful of hard red seeds. “I don’t know what they call this but it comes from that tree over there,” he says pointing, ”You can take a hot needle and it will burn a hole through them, then they string them together for jewelry.” I’m looking for a necklace with these in December. We brought these home, hope we don’t get in trouble…

[Guirigay]

Percy drops us off at SeaSplash and we make arrangements for him to take us back to SeaStar tomorrow. It turns out that we don’t really need to do this. Percy will be just about everywhere we end up being the next couple of days. We head to the front desk and say we were told to mention Daisy and Markus. “Oh, number 6,” They say and make a phone call. “Jim is back at the bar and wants you to come see him.” We leave our bags at check in and head back to the bar. We sit down and have a drink. And a conversation. What a conversation. Very enlightening. It makes us feel better in most ways, worse in some, but all in all more comfortable about where we are and where we’re headed. And it all ends with Jim saying, “What can I do for you? What do you need?” And true to his word, he helps us. Thank you, Jim Hurt, you’re a good man in my book and SeaSplash won’t be the same.

We get settled in and hook up with Hubbity. We get word that a bale of turtles is coming ashore down at Country Country. We get set for a beach day. Sweetie Pie wants me to wear THE swim suit. When we had come down in February I had picked up a couple of new pairs of swim suits. One was a more traditional pair of swim trunks, the ones I wore at the flop. I had actually packed THE swim suit for the flop but backed out at the last minute. Went for the more conventional route. That right there should tell you a whole lot. The second suit I had left entirely up to Sweetie Pie. “You pick out what you want to see me in ‘cause if it gets your motor revving that can only be good for me!” I said at the time. It was an extremely successful strategy in February.

Now I’m happy to make Sweetie Pie happy and these shorts make her happy… Fortunately (for me, maybe not anyone else besides Sweetie Pie) I’m very comfortable with my body. Fortunately we’re in Negril, where a skin tight pair of beach volleyball trunks can seem modest comparatively. Unfortunately, Booger is who we are going to meet at Country Country…

So we gather up and stroll down the beach to meet the bale. A big group is here already. Jizzy and Pooger, Narley Minja and the SpottyCatz, Indy Bob and Cindy Lou Lurker. They’re getting a big order from the Patty Man as we walk up. “Want one?” says Booger as I’m walking up looking in my general direction. “Sure!” I say thinking this is another of those classic Booger treats. Ewww, Booger Treats! I think that’s going in the lexicon, gang… well, wrong! Somehow Sandie had managed to swing in behind us on our way to the group and he was asking her. “No dude!” says Boogs with a gesture past my shoulder and I turn to see Sandie, “but you want some Coco Bread?” Yup, Booger Treats! They are delicious.