Dream Investments

Standing with my feet in the aqua blue waters of Orient Bay, I'm listening to Matthew Sweet and Suzanne Hoffs sing covers, when out of the corner of my eye I see him coming He is much taller than I am, deeply tanned and has a broad smile on his face. "Mike!" he exclaims and gives me a hug. It had been a year since I had seen him but you wouldn't know it by the way we immediately fell into conversation. His name is also Mike and I met he and Shannon several years ago here in St. Martin. "We did it," he told me with an even broader grin. "We sold the house, sold the kids, quit the jobs, cashed in everything we have and moved here in March. We love it!" Mike and I had shared the same dream of doing this and, while I came close but didn't follow through, he had. What I remember is that they were struggling anyway. Mike had gotten a job with a bank after spending several long months unemployed. He hated it. Shannon did free lance work and they were struggling. They had come down anyway because they needed to get away from it all even though they really couldn't afford it. At the time that is what I wanted too. I asked him if it was scary. "Naw," he replied. " The sucked and were just using me for a while. The kids were old enough. We weren't happy and there was enough equity in the house. We cashed in what retirement we had and ?... Here we are." He waved his long brown arms in the air. "What are you doing?" he asked. I introduced him to Sarah and explained that we are also in the process of reinventing everything about the way that we live our lives. We told Mike about leaving Union Mission, the investment of what we own into ourselves,  and the search for passionate things. "Ah, y'all should just come down here," he told me. Conner and Hania joined us for a few moments. Mike invited us to come check out his place, explained how cheaper the Dutch side of the island is than the French side, and went on and on about how much they love it. " We'll go back to see the kids or the kids can come and see us," he concluded. "The law is that we have to leave the island for 48 hours once every four months, even if it means just catching the Ferry to Anguilla," he laughed. Leaving, I watched him dance down the beach and I couldn't help but admire him. Life in the U.S. had become a slow erosion process in their lives and rather than just wait for something else bad to happen, Mike and Shannon took charge and made a dream come true.  I think that dreams are always risky and investments are never safe when you follow one. Mine for for and happiness took me down crazy paths and through some very dark places. Some things about the future still frighten me. I don't think about money the way I used to because it was more abundant then. We continue to clean out the closets of old priorities and downsize to happiness. The trade Winds pick up a bit as Mike disappears on the horizon. Turning I go and sit in the chair besides Sarah. We hold hands. We smile. Who knows?