If you know me, you know that Jamaica is my absolute favorite place in the world. My heart and soul are in love with this island, the people, the culture and every ounce of the work that I've had the opportunity to be a part of. I have people here that I consider family and kids that I would take home as my own. I generally spend the time away from Jamaica wishing I was here and while I'm here, I'm usually trying to figure out a way to stay forever. Jamaica has been my heart's home since my first visit and I can safely say that it will be a part of my life forever. With that being said, I have to be honest and admit that this is the first time I have ever had any kind of breakdown before making my way here. I'm at a point in my life where I just finished school and have loans to pay off without a job lined up, I'm in the happiest, healthiest, most amazing relationship I've ever been in and I'm the maid of honor in my sister's wedding, which is the weekend after I leave here. I left home feeling like I was walking away neglecting my finances, leaving somebody that I love and like the absolute worst sister and maid of honor in the world. Believe me when I say I am not writing this as a sob story and am certainly not asking to throw a pity party (unless there's chocolate involved) but getting here today was my first challenging journey to the island. After shedding a few tears (okay, way more than a few) a few hours of sleep and some deep breathing, I made it.
Our flight arrived around 9:45 this morning and customs was completely empty. I was on a flight with Kendall & Nick who will be facilitating this week, as well as 27 kids that were all with IsleGo. Mikey picked them up and I waited with Dalton for Chelle, Ralph & JC to arrive. Even after stepping off of the plane I started to feel my smile start to grow and seeing these people just made me explode with excitement. I haven't had the chance to spend time with Dalton since 2009 and was excited beyond words to spend some time with him. He gave me a tour of the new Montego Bay, which was unreal. There are gigantic shopping markets, general stores, movie theaters and even a chinese food restaurant. I remember the days that we didn't even have paved roads....they're advancing quickly! We stopped and he surprised me with some "i scream" also known as: ice cream. It's always special to have one on one time with somebody because they have so much to share that wouldn't be heard with other people around.
The rest of the day was spent back at the villas catching up with Dusty & Corinne. Dusty and I went into town to visit a house that burned down and we'll be rebuilding this week. It's always so refreshing to meet up with these friends and no matter how much time has passed, we can pick up right where we left off. I am blessed with the people I have in my life all around the world. The day ended with dinner at Passage to India where I got my one Indian meal in for the year. I've been in a bit of a daze after traveling from Hawaii to Arizona to Jamaica and will be working on catching up with sleep and turning my brain back on! I fell asleep writing last night but we've been up this morning for breakfast & meetings to get organized for the teams that are coming in today. This week we'll have teams working on building the community center at Seville, painting the church wall in St. Ann's, rebuilding houses, painting in Exchange and food baskets/infirmary visits and I'm sure multiple other projects that we haven't planned for!
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