A Grand Vacation
28 November 2007 | Grand Case, St Martin
Laura's Guest Blog:
On our last day we (I use the term loosely) sailed Eira back to Marigot for a last run through the market and then into the bay near the airport. To my skepical amazement, Menno loaded up our enormous suitcases and the three of us and then took us by dinghy to the airport. After a sad goodbye, we had to make the reverse transformation and trade our sandals and bathing suits for warmer clothes for the flight back home. As our plane took off, we got a last look at the sailboats, a last look at paradise. St. Martin was not as chi-chi as I expected, and it was better that it wasn't. It's more real. It feels like a place where people live and work, albeit a rather heavenly looking one. I loved the shabby pastel-colored houses pressed right against the waves, the crumbly beauty of Marigot, the French cafe on the corner with pain au chocoloate, croissants and, yes, even the rude French clerk. But the best part of the trip was watching Luke and Daniel and John giggling together about things incomprehensible to anyone over 11; enjoying long, leisurely talks with Val & Menno under the stars; and sharing a part in the magical, water-logged, sunset-filled beautiful life that the four (make that five with Daisy) of them live. No matter where they go next, the blue water of the Caribbean churns in their blood and will draw them back again and again. It is our hope that we will be lucky enough to accompany them again too! So.... should we have stayed at home and thought of there? No. We would not have been able to imagine the wonder of it all, and to have missed those days in St. Martin would have been an unfortunate loss.