SLICE #25- Missing Cayman

Friday night. Spring break has started. I have to confess I am a little sad.

For about ten years, this Friday night was a huge milestone for me. In the weeks before, I'd work really hard to get everything done- taxes, schoolwork, and housework- because that Friday night that Spring Break started I'd head for the airport to board a plane to the Grand Caymans.

The Grand Caymans were a tradition for my family. My mom and dad fell in love with the island  in the late 80's or early 90's, when they visited some friends who had a timeshare there. They liked it so much that after a year, they bought their own timeshare. For a few years, they spent most of March on the island.

 My dad died in 1993. That's when my sisters and I started going. My middle sister, Nancy, and her partner, would fly down with my mom. They would usually stay a couple of weeks. After that, my younger sister and her husband and kids went, and then it was my turn. Some years, depending on spring breaks, there would be some overlap. Other years, it would just be my mom and I.

My idea of a great day at Cayman was coffee on the patio, overlooking the water, then a long walk on Seven Mile Beach, then a few hours reading on the beach. In the afternoons, I would snorkel, then read some more, until it was time to shower and dress for dinner.

Sometimes, we went on adventures. If my niece and nephew were there at the same time as I was, we sometimes went to the turtle farm. There's a town called Hell on the other side of the island, and we occasionally went to have our pictures taken in Hell. Every couple of years, we would book a boat trip to swim with the stingrays at Stingray City. My mom and sisters often went to town to shop, but I preferred a book on the beach to the endless t-shirt and jewelry and rum shops in town.

Grand Cayman is pretty expensive and we ate most of our meals at the condo.  Several times each vacation, though, we would go out for dinner, always by the water and always outside. One of my favorites was the Grand Old House. I always said that if I ever got married, this was where it would happen.

After I adopted the boys, I stopped going to the  Caymans. It was just too expensive for three of us to go. My mom and sisters went for about almost another decade. They didn't stop going until my mom had brain surgery a couple of years ago.

So it's the first night of Spring Break and I'm really glad to have some time off. Even so, I have to confess I am a little sad.

I really wish I was going to Grand Cayman.