Happy Birthday To The BareFootMom.

You ask, I tell.  Like it is.  And have been for 3 years now.  Probably the longest running mom-written-living-in-the-Caribbean-married-to-a-Fisherman-raising-two-crazy-kids blog that has ever existed.  In the Universe.  No?

Three years ago I was 7.5 months pregnant.  Nesting.  Full time SAHM.  Organizing the office of my dreams with little to go on.  There were too many voices in my head.  All struggling to be heard.  Finally, I started documenting my true feelings and our little family’s way of life on St. Croix.  I used to cringe when people found out where we lived.  I avoided the gasps of excitement and  curious questions because I felt like it was not really Paradise.  Now, I embrace it. And share our family’s island adventure.

In general, I was tired of the happy-go-lucky St. Croix information that existed on-line.  When, in actuality, St. Croix is not ALWAYS paradise.  But that is life, that is reality.  I just wanted people to have a different point of view.  This blog is about my point of view, from my daily life, excursions, happenings, circumstances, run ins and the like.  Sometimes good, sometimes bad.  All happening right here in paradise.

I wanted to change people’s perspective of not only what it is like living in paradise, but that ANYONE can live in Paradise.  The underlying meaning in everything I do and say is Paradise is a state of mind, not a location.  Packing your bags, moving your family to a tropical island in the Caribbean is not going to decrease your stress level.  What you desire I take advantage of.  What I desire, you don’t even blink at and probably even complain about.  We should all step back, take a look and be damn thankful for everything we have.  But, think about me next time you look at your grocery bill.

And, apparently several of you like to hear what I say.  You may not agree, but you check in with me.  You ask me questions, still.  I try to answer, still.  This little blog started with 100 views a month and now receives over 5,000 views a month.  {Most of them from my BFF.}  I challenged myself at the beginning of the year with WordPress’  post-a-week-challenge and passed with flying colors.  I believe it is because of that challenge that my blog has grown in so many ways.  That challenge built a following.  I have tried to keep you curious.  Be Blunt.  Be Honest. 

People have encouraged me to sell ad space, etc, but this is my barefootblog.  I don’t do it for money, endorsements, product placement, free stuff (though that would be nice every once in a while) or even The Fame (I get enough of that just being The Fisherman’s Wife).  I do it because I want to.  Because it helps you help me.

And of course, a ginormous THANK YOU to everyone who encourages me, writes to me, questions me, comments on my posts, signs-up to get my up-dates and allows me to share their faces, images and stories on my blog.  THANK YOU to the St. Croix businesses and peeps who circulate my babbles, good and bad and supporting me.  Living my paradistic life has not allowed me to run out of topics to blog about.  And I love it.  With out all of you, I would not have made it this long.  I am lucky to have such a great group of supporters.

With a heart-felt thanks, and a list full of future blog topics, a big fat sun-shiney thank you from St. Croix, The Holley Family and TheBareFootMom for showing the slightest bit of interest.

x to the o homies.  I am going to the beach.
bfm

If you are a nerd like me, here are some interesting stats:

This blog was viewed about 54,000 times in 2011. In 2011, there were 109 new posts, averaging more than a post a week.

The busiest day of the year was December 29th with 1,049 views. The most popular post that day was His Shadow.  My friend Martha, sends me a ton of traffic as a result of me calling her out on missing steps on a simple childhood craft, Valentine Sun Catchers, which is the most viewed post on the site in general.  Who knew?

Boob Sweat.

Its part of life living on a tropical island.  Boob sweat.  Its that time of year again…the heat of summer is HERE. NOW. TODAY.    The recent monsoons have made things a bit steamier than I need or want right now.

I am partial to tube tops for this type of weather.  They are more comfy than the restrictions of a regular bra and they soak up the boob sweat efficiently.  Its too hot and sticky in the mornings to calmly round the kids up for school, hang a load of laundry & get ready for work.  New order:  Get kids ready, take to school.  Come home and sweat some more.  Sweat after taking a shower.  Sweat while trying to find something non-sweaty to wear.  Sweat while applying some sort of make-up (or do it in the comfort of the air-conditioned car?).  SWEAT ALL THE TIME.  Now you know why my kids are naked all the time.  It gets to be too frickin hot!

So, that is where my brain has been lately.  Thinking of how I can “work” more hours in the AC and less hours with boob sweat.

Warmth Of The Sun.

A coconut-palm tree in our yard:

Look closely:

Closer:

I love this guy.  He comes out on the sunniest of days and just chills there for…forerver.  Not a care in the world.  I’m guessing he climbs over to the neighboring papaya tree for some lunch.  Then goes back on his palm-frawn perch. Then goes to the sour-sop tree for dinner.  Then back to the safety of his house in the sky.

I didn’t have to go into my office today and spent most of the day preparing and organizing for the largest Easter feast known to man kind to take place on our larger-than-life-lawn.  But after I saw this, I took a cue from this lazy lizard, put my bathing suit on, grabbed my book du-juor and headed to the pool for an entire hour to feel the warmth of the sun.  And silence.  Just what I needed at the end of a productive Monday.  And most definitely one reason I love living in paradise.

Just Another Day In Paradise.

Really.  The Fisherman actually had the day off on the same day that I don’t work or the kids don’t go to school.  FAMILY DAY!  It was a beautiful, calm morning where we could hear the waves crashing on the beach down the street from our house.  You can’t mimic that sound on a CD.  You have to hear it in person.  It really is so soothing.

We hopped on Mocko Jumbie and motored out to beautiful Buck Island for the day.  The sun was out, the water was crystal clear (but still cold), and the beach was perfect for the kids.  This is NOT an average day in our lives.  It really is a treat for us to be on the boat together.  When my nephew came to visit a few years ago, he thought all we did was fish, swim, lay on the beach, eat fish everyday and then go to the beach some more.  He was also 15 years old.

Upon manning the bow of the boat waiting for The Fisherman to bark orders regarding the bow anchor, I noticed the totally cool reflection in his sunglasses.  So we stopped the entire process so I could go grab the camera.   Like?

Finally we got anchored, had a little lunch.  Popped open a cold beer then threw the kids on the beach where they spent the next couple of hours.  SC did a little of this while I threw cheese crackers in the water for the pompano to feast around her.

Then at the end of the day, SJ did a little of this:

In the middle there was a bunch of this:

Actually, that is Big Beard’s Adventure Tours.  A pretty cool group of people who will take you to Buck Island.

And that is just another day for us.  It actually was paradise.  And the next?  It was paradise as well, in a different sense.  I worked.  The Fisherman fished.  The kids went to school.  Then came home and played in the rain:

Much needed rain.  I could not of asked for anything more.

RESILIENT

adjective.   Characterized or marked by resilience.  Capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture.  Tending to recover from or ADJUST easily to misfortune or change.

I came across this word last week and it has been stuck in my head.  The article discussed whether or not people are born with it or they learn to acquire it.  I have no say as to either way, I am just glad I am.  Resilient.

For 5 years I have been answering email as to “How’d you do it?  How do you make it work (moving, living on St. Croix)?”  I have seen many people come on my short stint. 6 years a short stint?  In the grand scheme of things, yes.  But on island time, it is an eternity.  Why are we able to stay?  Because WE can adjust easily to change.  We can overcome misfortune, because, yes, it happens even in paradise.  You pick yourself up, dust your self off and figure out what you’re gonna do to make it right again.  Even in paradise.

Can you?

One soul who has come and gone told me her vision was:  Zipping around in her lil’ red sports car, hair in the wind, tan and not a care in the world.  Her reality was expensive moving costs from everything they “could not live with from the states”, finding a home to accommodate their excessive state-side standards that they ultimately could not afford; learning to live with cement walls (only one chance to nail that hole for a family photo!), and power outages and surges that ultimately fried all of their expensive electronics that they simply could not live with out.  This is just one of many, many, many stories we could tell of those we have seen come and go.

I don’t know you, your lifestyle, your financial situation, and I can’t tell you to just chill out and go with the flow.  Maybe you are not that type of person, so I can’t tell you how to do it.  Nobody told us how.

Are you capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture?  Could you handle seeing a large “salt-water mongoose” run across your living room floor, grab a pellet gun, tell your 2 year old to go to the bedroom and shoot the dang thing? And then continue on with your day? 

Are you RESILIENT?