Oh Summer love, how do I love thee let me…………. hahahahaha For ever since I could remember summertime, after christmas,is one of my most favorite times of the year..Seriously I think that is what drew me into teaching. Summers brings back such great nostalgia of lazy days, days of dreams, uninterrupted imagination and experiments, days of explorations in unknown lands (my backyard heehee) AND it meant August week in Anguilla, now termed Anguilla Summer Festival. Summer did not feel complete without my mom taking or sending us to Anguilla to enjoy the boat races, the music, the food, the people and the FREEDOM!!!! What was a kid to do, with so much family and a small tight knit community, my mom seemed to be a little less concern about my every movement or for the simple fact that most of my Anguilla visits were sans parents….What was a kid to do without parents around???!!!! Have the time of her life……..
And so summer and I have a love relationship that I thought no one else could truly understand or comprehend, until ……
So it was approaching August, 6 months after meeting my mystery guy, 6 months of the occasional “Hey what’s up, how you doing” conversations and I had planned as usual to head over to Anguilla, enjoy August Monday and head back to St. Maarten in time for work the next morning. I’m not sure if you are getting how serious I am about my August Monday in Anguilla, perhaps you need a glimpse into what it is like, let the sisters of My Anguilla Experience give you a sneak peek here. Now do you understand?
This August trip would be different and totally unexpected. This was the plan, spend some time with my aunt and uncle who were in Anguilla “nesting” from New York (the life of retirees), finally get one date with my mystery guy, go to the August Monday Beach Party, and then head home.
To be honest, I don’t ever recall going to the opening of the Anguilla summer festivities, perhaps because it is usually the Thursday before August Monday and I typically waited until the weekend or the morning of August Monday to get there, depending on work. This particular August I took advantage of my new found freedom as an educational consultant and decided, it was time for THAT date and I wanted to do it be for August Monday just in case he turned out to be a jerk, I had something else to look forward to...Hey, don’t judge me, you know it was a good plan.
The evening of our date, I felt like a highschool girl whose crush finally realized she exists, the butterflies, the nerves, the butterflies, the nerves, ohhhh the butterflies...I don’t know the last time I was so nervous on a first date. I don’t know if it was because my aunt and uncle were just as excited, peaked by their curiosity as to who this mystery guy could be that I would actually allow to pick me up at their house or if it was that I had already begun to really like him, probably both.
Car horn honks….
I was still in my room, avoiding the eyes and the possible questions from my aunt and uncle.
“Did he just honk his horn for me to come out? Is he crazy?”
I did not move.
“Tami” My aunt called out to me
I finally came out, and there was my aunt and uncle standing by the door , I could barely see him, as they took their time shaking his hand and sizing him up…
But he just flashed those pearly whites of his and my uncle while giving him this bear grip of a handshake turns to me and says in his Haitian accent “He’s good looking” (Yeah, unc, not embarrassing at all, nooooo, that’s just great...aaaaaaaaarrrggghhhhh as I scream internally)
My uncle finally moved. And there he was standing in front of me, dressed in all black and smelling oh so divine
Him: Helloo
Me: Hey
Him: You ready
Me: Yep
Him: Let’s go
And so summer and I have a love relationship that I thought no one else could truly understand or comprehend, until ……
So it was approaching August, 6 months after meeting my mystery guy, 6 months of the occasional “Hey what’s up, how you doing” conversations and I had planned as usual to head over to Anguilla, enjoy August Monday and head back to St. Maarten in time for work the next morning. I’m not sure if you are getting how serious I am about my August Monday in Anguilla, perhaps you need a glimpse into what it is like, let the sisters of My Anguilla Experience give you a sneak peek here. Now do you understand?
This August trip would be different and totally unexpected. This was the plan, spend some time with my aunt and uncle who were in Anguilla “nesting” from New York (the life of retirees), finally get one date with my mystery guy, go to the August Monday Beach Party, and then head home.
To be honest, I don’t ever recall going to the opening of the Anguilla summer festivities, perhaps because it is usually the Thursday before August Monday and I typically waited until the weekend or the morning of August Monday to get there, depending on work. This particular August I took advantage of my new found freedom as an educational consultant and decided, it was time for THAT date and I wanted to do it be for August Monday just in case he turned out to be a jerk, I had something else to look forward to...Hey, don’t judge me, you know it was a good plan.
The evening of our date, I felt like a highschool girl whose crush finally realized she exists, the butterflies, the nerves, the butterflies, the nerves, ohhhh the butterflies...I don’t know the last time I was so nervous on a first date. I don’t know if it was because my aunt and uncle were just as excited, peaked by their curiosity as to who this mystery guy could be that I would actually allow to pick me up at their house or if it was that I had already begun to really like him, probably both.
Car horn honks….
I was still in my room, avoiding the eyes and the possible questions from my aunt and uncle.
“Did he just honk his horn for me to come out? Is he crazy?”
I did not move.
“Tami” My aunt called out to me
I finally came out, and there was my aunt and uncle standing by the door , I could barely see him, as they took their time shaking his hand and sizing him up…
But he just flashed those pearly whites of his and my uncle while giving him this bear grip of a handshake turns to me and says in his Haitian accent “He’s good looking” (Yeah, unc, not embarrassing at all, nooooo, that’s just great...aaaaaaaaarrrggghhhhh as I scream internally)
My uncle finally moved. And there he was standing in front of me, dressed in all black and smelling oh so divine
Him: Helloo
Me: Hey
Him: You ready
Me: Yep
Him: Let’s go