Caribbean Carefree

I'm a little late posting this. It was written on Sunday, December 15, the day after we returned home from the gorgeous Caribbean.

Somewhere between Florida and Washington, I lost track of everything. I’m exhausted from getting home at almost midnight last night, unpacking and shopping and doing laundry today. I have an awkward tan line on my chest from my swimsuit. My cheeks are parched and cracked from the brutal salty ocean water, and I couldn’t be happier.

I love writing right after a fabulous vacation, especially one that takes you somewhere you’re not likely to go again, like Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas and St Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Places that are beautiful and fun and crazy and wild, where my best girlfriends and I can go nuts and unwind.

I just spent the last week in the eastern Caribbean, aboard the Carnival Liberty cruise ship with my favorite girls in the world, Tanya and Adrienne. Oh yeah, and our husbands were there too. As important and as wonderful as they are, it’s easy to forget about everyone else when the three of us girls get together. We’re the kind of friends that can always come together and laugh about fun times from yesteryear and create awesome new memories instantaneously. We’re very much like sisters.

The trip wasn’t entirely perfect: The waters were rough the first few days as we sailed into the ocean currents going east, and sleeping through the night was almost impossible. My husband tweaked his back but somehow grinned and bared it throughout the rest of the cruise. We all had a great time, talking and laughing about nothing important (except for the few girl-talk conversations we exchanged about family and jobs and finances and all things real-life related).

It was great to completely disconnect. I haven’t done that since our last cruise four years ago, when the girls and I ran amuck all over the Mexican Riviera. I kept my phone on to take photos, but left it in flight mode, effectively disabling my email, texts and calls. I didn’t check or post to social networks. It felt good. Life felt simpler and easier. I sang karaoke a few times (hey, it’s good practice) and rocked it every time.

Seeing my girlfriends again and purposely distancing myself from the rest of the world for a week, the cruise felt a bit like a time warp. The transition from normal life to vacation life is subtle, but quick. When you pack everything, first leave the house, get on the plane and land somewhere, you still feel like your current every-day self, trying to find that vacation awesomeness. You see your old friends and there’s an adjustment period that lasts for an hour or so as you get reacquainted with a life you knew a long time ago, or one you wish you had every day. Then, magically, you let go of everything you usually worry about every day and enjoy life with your friends. You enjoy the food, the fun, the laughter and the conversation. You suddenly remember the joys of simple things you don’t have time to notice every day.

As I sit and write this, I still feel like I’m on a boat. I wasn’t feeling that sensation yesterday at the airport or on the plane, but waking up today I felt like I was rocking, and as I sit here completely stationary I’m feeling the same way. It’s bizarre, but kind of cool. 

I deep-conditioned my hair and tried to moisturize my face to get the grittiness of salt out of everything. But after unpacking my travel bag and finding Caribbean sand at the bottom, it makes me long for last week. It feels so long ago already. I can’t wait to create more memories like this, more ridiculous and fun moments with friends so dear to me. Lake Tahoe? Europe? Wherever, here we come!