Here at last and loving every minute of it!

Let me just start by saying that Cuba is by far the most amazing man I have ever met!!!! To have been blessed with his presence for one single day would have been life’s most precious gift. But no, somehow I got him forever as my best friend, lover and the father of my children. Life doesn’t get any better than this.

How then can he top this off? By giving me the San Juans as my very own private backyard!! The man is ingenious (happy day for me), and just doesn’t know when to stop (good thing he knows to stop at buying me a gaudy diamond ring to show me he wants to spend the rest of our lives together. The world as my playground and a promise of forever is all I need).

I have him to thank for so many things, among them this happens to be the first summer ever as a mother that I have been given the ability to spend with my children without the stress of school or work and it is truly amazing. I am loving the quality time that I have with them right now. They are the sparkle of the earth and my warmth on a cold winters’ day.

So just what have we been doing with all our time? That’s easy. We have hunted for so many crabs that I am seeing them in my sleep (let me just say that I have seen more species of crabs than I ever thought possible), we have chased our dinghy too many times to count (I am beginning to think it is hell bent to strand us somewhere), we have wrestled elbow deep in the sand for our dinner (large clams are about the most stubborn non-thinking creatures ever), we have climbed to the top of sand hills and slid down so many times that Liberty was convinced she was going to sleep as good as a “lazy pig”, we have rowed around in circles looking for starfish and anything else living under the sea, we have explored the driftwood structures previously constructed and we even had a close encounter with a deer.

The simplicity of this life is really a breath of fresh air. No crying at the store because the toy car is being left, no fighting about which movie to watch, there isn’t anything but what we have. We have taken walks on the beach as a family with big campfires, played games together after dinner and cuddled up on the couch to read books. It seems that the time spent together is fuller and richer than before. I have been waiting a long time to have life slow down for us.

There isn’t anything better than being able to step out onto the deck of your boat cuddled up with a blanket, your lover and a glass of wine to watch the sunset. With the children in bed and just the two of us mesmerized by the ripples of water glistening in the evening sunlight. The subtle sound of the waves beating on the distant shore are so calm and so peaceful I could almost fall asleep (now only if it was 10 or 20 degrees warmer, with palm trees blowing gently in the breeze and the smell of plumeria blossoms floating by… oh wait. Wrong island).

It’s hard to say what is more serene; the quieting down of the evening or the stillness and silence of the morning. The water like a lake without movement except for the distant heads of a seal family popping up to get air while out for their early morning fishing expedition. The sunlight now turning to silver instead of the gold and pink of the night. Hmmm… hard to choose.