ashleyinquisitive

...life is but a dream...

hi ya’ll…i’m back.  it’s been a bit over a week, but i was trying to think of something more interesting to blog about rather than gloating about my vacay, but no such luck.  The trip to St. Lucia for my Aunt’s wedding was more than amazing.  So amazing and so primitive in fact, that i contemplated (for about an hour…) a permanent resident type of life change.

I asked an English woman who owns the biggest souvenir shop in the town of Soufriere (where i was, amidst the Pitons in the south of the island) how long she’s been here and what does it take to be successful here?  Her answer (and I couldn’t believe it, but my Aunt attests…) is basically to move to the island, take up with a couple of natives (who will then become protective over me) and start a brothel…then i suppose i will somehow gain the respect to own a business?  something like that.

I mean, the trip was such a life enlightening experience.  For 6 days, I stayed in a villa with no air conditioning, eating authentic West Indian cuisine, and this is the view i woke up to every single morning.  I took a mud bath from the spring of a dormant volcano, we drank Piton beer like water and snorkeled a shipwreck.  While on a catamaran, I traded a St. Lucian fellow who canoed his way up to the boat to sell us goods (quite the solicitors down there) my sunglasses for fresh coconut water (he whacked the coconut right open) and ate fresh mangoes from some random St. Lucian dude who wanted us to “have a good time”.  I mean,  I can’t think of anywhere else in my life i would just eat something given to me by a stranger?  This is what the natives call “Maximum Chill”, a state of being that everyone on the island is familiar with and I gotta say I was getting quite acclimated to.

The Blushing Bride and her Handsome Husband

Most importantly, my Aunt and her beau had the most beautiful wedding.  It was a momentous occasion celebrating a union and love of an already 11 years, and many more to come.  I absolutely adore these two and feel so honored to be a part of it.  While in paradise, i got to partake in one of my favorite activities as well… the wedding cake.

before.

after. (gratuitous PITON shot)

So there you have it.  I had the time of my life and i was NOT ready to come back.  In fact, i’m ready to GO BACK.  One day soon i’ll post some video footage too.  I can totally see me video documenting my life from under the mosquito net…though running a brothel is not something I see in my future.  I will return there someday…that is definitely in my future.

~xoxo!

I feel compelled to write today for a few very special reasons.  The most important being it’s Mother’s Day, and I feel so close to Mom today more than most.  I FINALLY arrived in St. Lucia today for my Aunt’s wedding festivities! (My Aunt being my momma’s very best friend)  and since her best friend can’t be here as her maid-of-honor, of course she asked me to stand in and I couldn’t feel more honored.

Honor.  To honor my mother is by being the woman that she taught me to be, upholding the morals and integrity that she instilled in me and living my life in a way that i know if she were here would make her proud.  I can still hear her reprimanding me when I make a faulty decision or supporting me in times of hardship and confusion.  I know she is always here with me, and though she is desperately missed today on Mother’s Day, at her best friend’s wedding and every day for that matter, I am convinced that she is still giving me life’s directions from afar.

Wait.  There must be more exciting things while in ST. LUCIA than to blog?! …you must be thinking.  Well the short of it is this:  I have been practically on a plane (3 different layovers) for 10 hours in TO-TO (which means I’m exhausted) and I’m not super familiar with my surroundings yet to go “hit the town” of the ever so bumpin’ Soufriere, St. Lucia.  (not to mention i would probably crash and burn considering they drive on the OTHER side of the road)  so, instead I’m lying in a mosquito-netted bed while the indigenous St. Lucian Coqui Antillano tree frogs sing me into sweet slumber.  it’s like a sleep machine on steroids…not currently a huge fan, but i think i’ll survive.  Waking up to an OPEN DOOR overlooking the magnificently gorgeous Pitons, i think i’ll probably survive.

This picture reminds me of my Mother.  I took it impulsively and it looks like a heart, right?  It is symbolic of love and fellowship, and this beauty should be examined by all, present or absent.  <3