Warning: Mourning

We've been home from St. Croix for more than a week and I have thousands of photos I need to sort through and lots of images I want to post, but I can't get up the nerve. It's just too difficult. When we think about our time on the island we're full of great memories, but also sadness as we realize we've left part of ourselves behind.

Transitioning from 84°F days on St. Croix to 14°F days in Wheaton has been much more difficult than we expected.Among other things, we've been shocked by the silence of our home. In St. Croix our house windows were open all day and night as the sounds of ocean waves, palm fronds, sea breezes, tree frogs, and more wafted over our play, our meals, and our sleep. In Wheaton it's deathly silent in our hermetically sealed house. We wake up and it's utterly silent. We read a book and it's silent. We go outside...nothing out there either. It's as if the world has gone to sleep for the winter and forgot to tell all the people. I'm starting to think this part of the world was not intended for human habitation.



This pair of images sums up the difficulty of our transition. The shot on the left was taken one morning by our lovely pool at the Sugar Mill and the shot on the right was taken right after we got home in our front yard. We miss St. Croix.

St. Croix Images

I've taken thousands of photos on this trip, but because our internet access is so slow I haven't taken the time to post any yet. I've actually enjoyed being so disconnected, but I wanted to take a few minutes and post two quick photos.



This first image is one of my favorites photos of our trip. I shot it about a week ago on the side of our pool and it captures the beauty and peacefulness of our time. Off-camera Cindy is swimming laps in our pool and our kids are playing at the foot of our sugar mill.



I took this second photo today underwater off Buck Island. We were with our friends the Claeys on their boat when we spotted eight dolphins (6 adults and 2 babies) playing in the water. We followed them a bit offshore, slipped into the water, and swam with them a few times. The quality of the photo isn't fantastic, but the quality of the experience, friendship, and memories are superb.