The Charlotte Connection

Amazing how many connections between Charlotte and St Croix!  My bank co-workers Matthew, Sarah, Whitney, and Ruth all have connections with my island friends.  See if you can follow ...

I received an email a few weeks ago from my and Matthew’s friend April and her friend Jessica.  They were talking one day and made the St Croix connection, as Jessica’s sister Juli lives here as well.  Juli is engaged and getting married here this summer.  I haven’t met Juli yet, but just got a note from her inviting me to a bbq … where Sarah’s husband’s friends Brian and Lexi are attending and offered to carpool.  Brian and Lexi are also engaged and getting married here in April.  I reached out to Whitney, because she has a friend whose sister is also getting married on STX this summer.  Not Juli or Lexi.  I then had to ask if it was Ruth’s friend Kristen, who also lives in CLT, but has a house on STX and is getting married here in May.  But none of them are the same people – apparently at least 4 couples from Charlotte are getting married here this summer.  Weird!  And in the non-wedding category, I randomly met Sarah’s college roommate at a beach bar when she was here on a weekend visit from St John – talking about being from North Carolina, narrowing it down to living in Charlotte, working for Bank of America, etc.  Of course our aforementioned friend Lexi works at that beach bar and was there the day we made the connection …

What's really funny is that I just remembered that April and I met over scotcharoos, one of our favorite Midwestern desserts ... and that is what I am making for Juli's bbq. 

Of course that is just the connection with my work friends.  I've also mentioned the Charlotte connections with my two best friends down here - Kirby and Lisa.  Kirby's mom grew up outside of Charlotte, her first kiss was to a boy named Chuck Grant (my uncle's name, not the same person - now THAT would be weird!), and Kirby has a bunch of girlfriends who live in Charlotte ... and go figure, they work with my brother.  We didn't realize they knew each other until my brother visited, and sure enough, they do!  Then of course Lisa went to nursing school with my best friend and future roommate in Charlotte, Shelby!

It is really crazy all the CLT connections down here!  I am so lucky to be surrounded by so many good people in both places!

The Trifecta

My brother is visiting right now!!!  Funny when he sent me his itinerary ... his flight was booked less than 24 hours after I had arrived!  Guess he was waiting to make sure that I was actually going to do this, then he planned his trip.

Nick's 30th birthday coincided with Superbowl Sunday this year, and since I didn't get him the hook-up in Dallas with my buddy Too Tall Jones, he went for his second best option - having a free place to stay in St Croix.  Talk about the perfect trifecta - (1) 30th birthday, (2) in the Caribbean, and (3) his Green Bay Packers won the Superbowl!  I don't know if there is such a thing as "double trifecta", but (4) Saturday night dinner at Bacchus, (5) Sunday steak at Coconuts, and (6) watching the game at Carambola only added to the celebration.  Oh, and I guess I baked his favorite cake - the "lucky 7" we'll call it!  We seriously couldn't have asked for a better day!

Funny too how Nick is the guest staying the longest (2 weeks ... when he started researching flights, US Air had a direct flight every OTHER Saturday ... so I told him to come on down ... and go figure, they changed it to EVERY Saturday soon thereafter - oh well!) - and seemingly the easiest.  Maybe it's because I've lived with him for so long that I didn't feel obligated to playing 'host' (or maybe after 12 other guests, I've finally learned that I can relinquish the hostess with the mostess aspiration and have just as good of a time).  Well okay, not quite - I did have a daily itinerary of what I had planned ... more like where I had planned for us to eat.  And surprisingly, as much of a foodie as Nick is, even he said that we couldn't eat out for multiple meals a day for 14 days.  So we have been pretty good, for the most part - not overindulging ourselves (excluding the aforementioned Bacchus and Coconuts), eating a lot of leftovers, and Nick even cooked one night.  Shark - it was delicious!  Not quite the tequila lime flavoring he had in mind, but my pineapple rum worked just as well!  Nick said that he has enjoyed having breakfast ready for him every morning (coffee - thanks to Dport and Shelby for my new daily habit, and muffins - thanks to the samples prior to taking to Pollys), but is surprised and disappointed in the seemingly lack of fresh fish in either the grocery stores or at whatever restaurant we go to.  What do you think this is, an island or something?!?  (I am surprised too ... seems like when all my other guests were here, there has been fresh local mahi, wahoo, tuna, or lobster at every place every time - sorry if we are killing supply!)

It has been a great week and a half, but I have been kicking myself for not planning the agenda better.  The one thing Nick said he wanted to do in his two weeks down here was the moonlight kayak tour.  Of course I had three nights 'available' to go - and go figure, the dive shop was not running tours any of those nights.  Okay plan b, I was hoping one of my kayak friends would come through and do the unofficial tour (not that I'm concerned about the cost, but now that it is staying lighter longer, the officially tour starts during daylight where we get to go on our own schedule otherwise - and the darker the better) or at least let me borrow some kayaks.  No dice.  So plan c, I booked the last resort back-up tour for tonight, since last Thursday was trivia night (and regrettably new moon - which would have been the darkest night of the month and the best night for the tour).  Ugh, I really need to re-prioritize!!!  So all was going as planned, and despite my regrets about not rearranging the schedule when I had the chance, we were going to do the tour tonight.  Then - all of a sudden - Nick is sick!  I feel so bad for the kid, he was having such a great vacation.  Praying that he feels better soon, especially before his flight home on Saturday!  Or maybe this is his way of 'having' to stay longer ... he already has picked out living on the North Shore when he moves down - granted, he'd for sure make it to the bio bay if he moves next ... otherwise, I just owe him a trip again sometime!

Learning process

It's funny and ironic that one of my favorite quotes came from a card my mom gave me years ago:  "It's where we go and what we do, when we get there that tells us who we are."  I bet neither one of us had living in the Caribbean in mind when she sent that to me.  Even more random is that the card had nothing to do with the saying - it was just one of those blank inside cards where she had sent me something totally unrelated. 

But it's absolutely true.  I wasn't really sure what to expect of my journey down here - I was envisioning a lot more sun and a lot less stress, that's for sure!  But it's definitely served its purpose ... I've definitely learned a lot about who I am - and that a beautiful, warm location does not change that - for better or worse!