Caribbean Vacation Day 5

A few random observations as we wrap up our last day here.

In addition to having Oscar de la Renta as a neighbor, we're also staying close to Julio Iglesia's place, along with a whole bunch of filthy rich Europeans who I've never heard of but who are obviously not too worried about whatever's going on with the Euro.


Speaking of the Euro, one of the things I miss down here is my morning ritual of reading the newspaper with my morning cup of coffee. I don't miss the news; just the ritual.

I've deliberately not kept up with events in the real world. I took a quick look at CNN this morning and not much has changed. The dems and repubs are still spewing venom at each other without offering real solutions. There's still fighting in Syria. The market is still fluctuating. IMO the biggest benefit of a trip like this is regaining perspective. Life goes on, sometimes better, sometimes worse, but we endure. The important things are family and friends. As long as you are blessed with those, you can survive whatever life throws at you.


And speaking of family, whatever happened to my little girl? Sometime over the last couple of years she's morphed from a sweet innocent child into a young woman. Her usual attire is a baggy t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. Unbeknownst to me, however, under those clothes she's developed quite a set of curves. On our first day here she came trotting out in a bikini that damn near gave me apoplexy. My wife saw the warning signs -- red face and incoherent sputtering -- and gave me a look that said "If you know what's good for you keep your mouth shut." Of course, I ignored her and came out with the same line that millions of fathers before me have said: "You're not going anywhere dressed like that!"

And I got the same response that millions of fathers before me have gotten: "Oh, Da-aad" accompanied with a long-suffering sigh and a rolling of the eyes.

Needless to say, she went out dressed like that and I went into DEFCON 1. We were on two different missions with conflicting objectives. Hers was to mingle and chat with worthless lowlife scum that have only one thing on their tiny evil little minds boys, while mine was to interpose myself between her and them. Once again her mother intervened (doesn't that woman care anything about her daughter?). We settled on a state of uneasy but (relatively) peaceful coexistence where I loiter out of earshot but within eyeshot. They can make me keep my distance, but they can't prevent me from shooting daggers from my eyes at the little shits, and making throat-slitting motions every time one of them glances my way.


Other than that, it's been a very low-stress trip. We had a squall line blow through yesterday afternoon that wiped out the dive trip, but it also dropped the temperature and blew out the humidity, so it was a good trade-off. One more dive is planned for today, then a good night's sleep followed by a long day of travel tomorrow. This week has just flown by.

Like most vacations, we'll be sorry to see it end but be glad to get back home...