MountainMornings

Very soon we’ll be heading home. No more rooster wake-up call, no more chocolate croissants to start the day. The Love Bug and I will be wishing on the same stars in different American cities.  

But this morning I’d rather make a gratitude list:

I’m thankful we’ve had no news from the states. 

We turned on International CNN once, and at first I was relieved not to hear a certain GOP name. Then it appeared North and South Korea were planning a nuclear holocaust so we switched it off and never did that again. 

I’m thankful to have had this time with my adult children and their loved ones. To slow down, to speak French, to jump in the waves. 

I’m thankful Bob can still drive the roller coaster roads on this island. 

As Easter and Passover loom into sight, I’m happy to believe in rebirth in the figurative sense. Vacations have a way of giving us another perspective on our lives. 

But just in case rebirth is less metaphorical, I’d like to return to this world as a pelican.  

When it rains, children love to jump in puddles, our babies are no exception. They are cold rainwater seeking missiles. The only difference here is that the best puddles happen on the path to the best baby beach!

Past one of the most beautiful above ground cemeteries I’ve ever seen. 

Life can be like this sometimes. Pure joy on the edge of eternity. 

We have coasted into island time. Our vacation is halfway over, or halfway under. And yesterday was a good day. 

We spent the morning at the beach with the little ones; and the afternoon in the pool with the big ones. And for dinner, the Rocker and Ms Cait prepared an exceptional meal. Shrimp with soup, salad and champagne! I should rename my son the Chef.

In the evening, the big ones went to the French movie on a tennis court. So we looked at the stars and counted our blessings, while the little ones dreamed under our handmade dream catcher. 

Can you tell I was once a camp counselor? 

This was a tiny break in the action, the Chef came to sit for a minute. I thought, once upon a time they were little ones on this island. Catching lizards and feeding turtles. And now, look. 

Over the years we’ve had many animals visit us in our semi-open villa. We feed turtles bananas, we listen to goats and roosters, and we watch lizards laze around in the sun. The other day we passed a bevy of French girls trying to decide how to help an iguana cross the road in St Jean.

This time we have a yellow bird building her nest inside the villa, in a small silk gardenia tree! She must have gotten confused. But still, there is absolutely no crime on the island and so hurricane shutters remain open for her foray to and fro.

The Love Bug is going to enjoy seeing those eggs appear in the house!

We taught our children to enjoy nature. To catch fireflies and play with worms. They had zip lines in the backyard and Corgis to chase. I remember gently picking up Daddy Long Leg spiders and showing them how to place them back on a leaf. Letting ladybugs climb all over our arms and crayfish nibble on our toes.

But one thing I refuse to accept in my otherwise Zen animal frame of mind is mosquitos. They carry Dengue. They carry Zica. And I know the bats like to eat mosquitos but I don’t care. I’m on the defense and my family’s health is depending on me. Luckily we are on the windward side and so far, so good.

One thing we can always be sure of is change. Nothing remains static; our weather is changing, our relationships change, even our cells are changing. Some of us age with grace as arthritis slips into our joints. Some of us fight a losing battle, changing hair color and going under the knife. 

But one thing we never want to change is our adaptability, our resilience. Sure, a horse may throw you into a ditch or a surgeon may screw up, but how do we recover? Throwing in a towel, giving up on life isn’t the way I was raised. The Flapper said she would dance on her surgeons graves – and she pretty much did. 

Bob’s dream during his recovery last Fall was to return to this island. To taste the French food, to drive its perilous hills, to relax into its velvety beach. And for the most part it hasn’t changed at all. 

Sure the small Mini Mokes, the original smart cars, are gone. Cocut the parrot met his death on one of the big SUV replacement’s windshield. The super Marche U – a giant grocery compared to its original Match – is open now midday, very few stores close for lunch and a siesta. And technology is too much with us. There is French TV and WiFi. 

We knew something was wrong when Nikki Beach opened. Maybe now this little piece of paradise has jumped the shark? 

Because now you must pay for public parking. Because the second “big” grocery store has closed and is becoming a “technology” store. Because Ellen and the Kardashians have discovered it? 

But the landscape cannot change, its beauty is eternal like the ocean. I asked Bob if it might sink back into the sea eventually like Miami. He said no, the elevation here is good. 

So we read with abandon. We ignore the TV, rarely check emails. We imagine we are still young, the way we were when we first washed up on these shores. Marriage always has an ebb tide and flow. And soon our children and their children will join us. And we will forgive all the change and delight in their laughter. Because this is what happiness looks like.  

I’ve been known to write in a grocery store while simultaneously pushing a cart. There are times when I’ll grab the iPad and write in the car while Bob’s driving. But one of my favorite places to write while in transit is in an airline terminal. On my phone, with my thumbs, surrounded by pissed-off harried and hurry-up passengers. 

This morning it’s another mechanical delay. The plane’s battery is leaking and the mechanics must still be sleeping, like I wish I was. So for the sixth time in our last eight flights we will miss our connection in Charlotte NC. I’m surprisingly chill about this, after all it falls into that serenity prayer category – something about the  wisdom to accept the things I cannot change. To know the difference. 

It’s been a whirlwind run up to this trip. There was a floor that needed to be replaced due to freezing temperatures and a furnace condensation pipe leak. Yes deux-ex machina things happen all the time. 

And we needed to seriously prune our front and side yard shrubs and trees. When you live in the forest it’s a constant battle not to be consumed by the forest. But to celebrate Spring, Bob got a chance to test drive a Tesla this weekend. Can I say the smile stayed on his face for a full day and a half!

It’s the closest thing to a self-driving car; it parallel parks itself and slows down when the car in front slows down, hands free! It goes from 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds in Ludicrous mode, which is insane! I wonder if it could write my blog at the same time?

Bob has over 300,000 miles on his Acura so he can dream can’t he? Hope y’all get out to the polls today. Don’t let a leaky anything stop you!      

And Elvis is still in the living room! It’s hard to be a middle aged white guy running for President and remain off-script. Poor John Kasich. He was in Cville yesterday afternoon at the Miller Center, but that morning in NOVA he was just speaking his own adorable mind to a not/quite/as/large/as/Trump crowd:

“How did I get elected?” said the Republican presidential candidate at a campaign event. “I didn’t have anybody for me. We just got an army of people, and many women who left their kitchens to go out and to go door to door to put up yard signs for me.”  http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2016/02/john-kasich-women-supporters-kitchens

Of course he immediately tried to clarify that idea, as if a Disney angel had whispered in his ear, “You need to clarify that kitchen comment sir.” Kasich continued to refer to his early days running for the Ohio State Senate, the year was 1979. And it was Ohio! Back then I was setting up a house on Windsor Mountain in the Berkshires. I could barely fit in our tiny kitchen since the Bride was born that year. In fact, her crib was set up in the dining area right next to the kitchen, and across from our bedroom. We were heating with wood and I started my writing career with a story about “Guns in the Woods.”

Today I just push a button for the hearth to light up, I’m still writing about guns unfortunately, and I don’t take offense when a Republican tries to tell us he had alot of women supporters back in the day. They weren’t in binders after all, he had “an army” of ’em. Maybe we didn’t dress like Beyonce’s Black Panther fly girls, maybe we wore mom jeans, but hey the guy appreciates women! Granted most of my friends in MA were Democrats, the state is a bastion of libertarian and progressive ideas.

And if I had to vote for a Republican, this Ohio statesman would be it. On the GOP debate stage, Kasich is the only adult in the room. That bears repeating – the. only. adult. His interview at the Miller Center was broadcast live on American Forum TV, http://millercenter.org/americanforum, and people were live Tweeting. Though Bob and I didn’t attend, here are some of the other highlights from his Cville debut:

“Washington is a Dinosaur.” “I am not a moderate.” “There would be no judicial abortion litmus test.” “Government is not innovative.”

And his answer to why he is not more robust on gun control, “Because it wouldn’t work.” He took the same GOP detour to mental health – standard operating procedure. That was when I lost him to the Twittersphere. Right after an Uber driver ran amok in Kalamazoo, with a house full of guns. Do we want a President who doesn’t see the excessive loss of American life due to gun violence as not even worthy of a solution? I mean, talk about a judicial litmus test!!

31 Americans die each day due to gun violence, more than 30,000 a year. http://www.bradycampaign.org/about-gun-violence

But Kasich went completely off my Democratic radar when he brought up Obamacare…again…”Appeal Obamacare. It is not controlling costs. Return Medicaid back to states.” Remember readers, “states rights” is code for business as usual with racism as its subtext. You can subdue voter registration, and close women’s health clinics if you live in the right red state. I sometimes wonder why Republicans even want to run for office when they hate the Federal government so much.

Bob and I voted early in our Primary because we will be away on Super Tuesday. VA is an open state, meaning we could choose any party to vote for in the primary. Bob was kidding me, saying he might just switch and vote Kasich on the red side because we happen to like both our Democratic contenders. Let the chips fall where they may on the Hill, or with the Bern. But thankfully he didn’t. I’ll never tell who we picked