The Number Five - A Trip Report

[JandMinJA]

awesome bless your trip and i hope your planes are all 5 min early...

Now that would be a blessing Beebeluv! thank you!

[JandMinJA]

The 3rd pre-trip installment...

The reminiscing began as soon as we booked (not that it ever really ends). Photo albums came out, stories were told and re-told, apparel started being drug out of the closet that seems to only be worn in Negril. No beaches in Oklahoma, unless you count the sandy-clay beaches along one of our many lakes, but it’s just not the same, although we still spend most weekends out on the boat, pretending. Along with the reminiscing there has been a lot of planning, far more than there has been the last few trips. Not only are we staying on the beach side for half our trip (we’ve mostly been cliff people through the years), but we’re planning on getting out and having a few new experiences this time, that is assuming we can free ourselves from sand gravity, or more accurately, hammock gravity. But we’re not talking waterfalls and the like (waterfalls....hmmmm...that brings back very vivid memories of a very scary but exciting adventure on my first visit to Negril-maybe a story to share later since I never got around to a trip report that time.) Been there, done that. Loved it, but don’t need to do it again, at least not just yet. No, this time I’ve been reading trip reports, taking notes, and we’re doing things a bit different this time. A new driver, a new hotel, and a few new experiences on the list. Soon come…

[jimnkim]

Great start.

[JandMinJA]

The 4th pre-trip installment... (I just can't help myself!)

Heart racing, tummy flipflopping --- exactly 3 days from now the pilot will be telling us to stow our belongings and prepare to land; Jamaica will be visible through the windows of the plane. I’m all but bouncing in my chair. Think I WILL start bouncing tomorrow. I’m literally shaking…wait…that may be the coffee…should get another cup in case it’s not. Will do my best to pretend it’s Blue Mountain. I'd like to thank Tizzy and poolguy and all others posting morsels of Jamaica – you’re all that’s getting me through the next 3 days. And of course Mr. Chow. Your…ahem…descriptive tales are interesting as well as the witty banter and other commentary taking place between updates. To all your followers, I apologize that my report will not be as … ummmm… passionate as yours (although the trip itself will be, I don’t think I’ll be kissing and telling-who wants to hear about an old married couple anyway? LOL) While I’m calling folks out, I was absent from the board for a long, long time. Sometimes too painful to read when there’s no vacation in site for a LONG time, but one of the first reports I read when I got back was Clarity and Markus’s report. I LOVE LOVE LOVE your writing style and the everything I read in your reports. There were several occasions a tear (or two…or five…) fell from my eye as I read. Your report really struck a chord with me as did the personalities of the two of you which shows through in your writing. There aren’t many on this board I *wouldn’t* want to meet but you two are definitely at the top of the list. I know a report like that was a labor of love and I thank you both from the bottom of my heart for doing it. Beautiful. GerryG123, you were my next report to catch up...going way, way back (I had 3 years to catch up on!). I laughed more times than I could count. I will NEVER EVER look at a donkey (or more accurately, a donkey pony) the same. Congrats on the weight loss by the way – you’re looking fantastic!

OK, I really should be working. Shouldn’t you be, too?

[JandMinJA]

The 5th (and final) pre-trip installment...

As I am strategically compiling the list of eating establishments and dishes I plan to visit in honor of each boardie from the thread “Craving Today” started by never2many, I envision myself getting out this list each morning, asking the Shark Hunter “What sounds good today? Pick a restaurant. No you’ve got to order something off this list.” I am reminded of what a pain in the @$$ I am and how lucky I am that he tolerates, no ADORES me and all my bossy, eccentric ways. Wait, I’m not rich. Can’t call them eccentric. Correction – all my bossy, crazy ways. This poor guy. I don’t know how he does it. And he smiles each time and shows enthusiasm. How does he do it? *sigh* I am so lucky.

I’m sure you all could live without the following detail, but here I am taking a trip down memory lane, so read on if you’re bored. If you are in a hurry to get back to Leslie Chow's much more romantic TR or see if Tizzy has posted any new photos, you can skip this one and check back tomorrow as I will actually BE.IN.JAMAICA.THEN! YAY!

Hubby and I were high school sweethearts. Actually, all the way back to middle school (wow that was a long time ago). We dated for a couple of years and as my family tended to do frequently (I went to 13 schools before I graduated high school,) I moved away, out of state, and that was the end of that. Except there was something special. We knew it way back then, and it always stayed with us. I moved back to the state but a different town (about 30 minutes away) a couple years later and we ran into each other. Went to lunch, a looooong lunch, and caught up as much as we could that afternoon. He was a month or two from graduating, had a steady girlfriend. I was still a year away. Not the fun kind of kid, definitely a nerd. Loved learning a lot (still do). He took me home after our lunch, and that was the last time we would speak for well over a decade, closer to two. A year or two later I met the man that would one day become my husband. In the meantime, Shark Hunter had married, raised a step-daughter and had a son. Memories were made. Careers started. Tragedies happened. Life was lived.

Then a few years ago, it happened for each of us. The big D, and I don’t mean Dallas. His was the end of a 13 year marriage, mine was the end of a 12 year marriage. And it was in those darkest moments of our lives, those bleak hours that felt so alone, that we ran into each other for the first time in 16 years. We had lunch. We caught up. DéjÃ* vu. We didn’t stop talking after that first lunch. We relived every moment of each other’s lives, the good, the bad, and the ugly, over the next few weeks. If we were awake, we were talking, whether in person, on the phone, texting, or via email. All those years we missed each other were caught up. And we were amazed to find that not just once, but MANY times, we were in the same place at the same time (even when I had lived in a different state). Once we had actually TOUCHED. He was working security for Garth Brooks back then, before his hockey career and long before his time as a police officer, and long, long before he became a mechanical engineer. I was in the front row, silly screaming girl, Garth is reaching down towards the audience, all of us crazy fans pressed against the stage. Security pushes me back. It was Shark Hunter. Go figure. Just one of many times our paths crossed. But the timing wasn’t quite right. Not until the big D. And then God, or Fate, or Destiny, or whatever you choose to call it, brought us back together.

We’ve been married a few years now. Happily, blissfully married. Happy because we make it happy. Blissful because neither of us will ever forget the things we’ve overcome, the trials we’ve endured. It’s not all roses, but we’re [mostly] positive people. We have a 3 year old. She’s a mess. Too smart for her own good. He has two teenagers, one off to college and the other almost. Our jobs are high-stress, long hours, and just so-so pay. But we make it. We’re grateful. For each other, for life, for what we have, for what we don’t have, and for what is yet to come. But there is one argument between us that will never be settled. He says he’s the lucky one, but I know it is I who is lucky. He’ll never convince me otherwise.

I first experienced Negril almost 10 years ago. I got there by accident, but it was a wonderful accident and I’ve been back as many times as possible since. He and his ex (for the sake of anonymity we’ll call her Satan's Anus) were there in Jamaica that same year, but a month or two ahead of my ex (again exercising discretion – we’ll call him Butthead) and I. Still interesting that our first visits to the island were so close in time considering neither of us had the time or funds to travel frequently, let alone out of the country. But we both felt it. The draw of Jamaica. That song that calls to us, the song of the wind in the mountains or the waves of the ocean or the laughter of school children on the road. That breath of fresh air (literally and figuratively.) Sweet, sweet Jamaica. I’m so glad he and I are together to share it now. We were there for a few nights after we got married. Now it’s time to go back. A nice long reach. Two whole weeks. The longest vacation he or I have ever had, Jamaica or elsewhere. And with every day that has passed, we each needed it more. It’s been an eventful (and exhausting) year. We’re drained. We are emotionally and spiritually wrung out. Time to recharge. Time to reflect. Time to have some fun! Soon come...

[TizzyATX]

Gosh you're getting me all excited for your trip!!! This is great, thanks so much for doing it. And I will get some more pics up to help you through the long day, K?

[MoFromMonroe]

Loving this report. Had to laugh at the names of the ex's. Have a wonderful trip.

[Lady Jane]

I am excited! I too got a kick out of the exs names. lol

[JandMinJA]

Gosh you're getting me all excited for your trip!!! This is great, thanks so much for doing it. And I will get some more pics up to help you through the long day, K?

You're my hero Tizzy! It'll surely be the only way I survive! Many thanks for your trip report. I am SUPER impressed to see you coming back to it. I've always sworn I would write one, but life sets back in so quickly back in the US, I've never followed through. This time will be different.

[JandMinJA]

Lady Jane and MoFromMonroe, I'm glad you enjoyed the names. I wish I could tell you it was my wit, but that's truly what we call them. Well, one of them has moved up a bit after some growth and maturing and is now sometimes addressed by his real name, but I'm afraid Satan's Anus will always be referred to as none other than.