I walk with purpose back to the tiny studio and pour myself a cup of coffee. The Palm Trees dance in the Trade Winds. Yellow Butterflies flutter and Finch birds dark through the air. Large Geckos slither through the grass.
Sarah wakes and I join her back in bed and we celebrate being here.
With a second cup of coffee, I stand in the back door and immediately burst into laughter. Carlos walks toward me wearing a full sweat suit on a 82 degree morning. Last night at dinner he said he wanted to run with me because he's put on some weight and true to his word here he is!
"He's Here!" Sarah yells from the bed.
"G'morning," he says in his French West Indies lilt.
I throw on running shorts and tie the bandanna around my head and we make our way to the Bay. It is one-and-a-half miles from one tip of Orient Beach to the other and I daily make a three mile run. Carlos makes it one mile before needing to walk so I jog in place beside him so we can talk.
It's been a year since we've been together though we've been friends for more than a decade. His first visit to the United States had been to our house. He and Verna spent a month with me and our friendship was cemented. When I found myself suddenly single I spent lots of time here and he and Verna crossed the imaginary line and became part of my family.
"Is that?" he says pointing in the distance. "That is Sarah?"
"Yep," I answer bopping up and down.
"Looks at those legs," he says. "Ay Yi Yi."
"I do," I say laughing.
She runs past us in determination.
We encounter Victor, Carlos' father, and his father also named Victor, who are on their morning walk. They embrace me welcoming me home.
Back at the studio, Sarah puts Carlos through additional exercises. Conner stumbles over sipping a cup of tea to watch. A moment later Hania follows suit. Happy laughter fills the air.
The rest of the day will be on the beach with these and other friends. In a magic place that drips lovely, we celebrate this day.
