Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends especially Sandy Azancot, Jan & Sheryl Visosky.

It is very unusual to find an islandgirl on the Rocky Mountains let alone five! We are way out of　our element and having quite a laugh at myself for being a bumbling idiot in the snow.

This thanksgiving, I would like to give special thanks to big sis Winds who paid my tickets to join her and her family on their ski vacation to Brekenridge. Colorado.　 I was hesitant up until the very day of departure until she convinced me that I will not only enjoy myself, but that Cash, Dinero & Money will be just fine, and that the dramas of Caye Caulker will still be there when I return.

So at 13,000 feet above sea level, my gorgeous nieces Zoe, Bi

anca & Giselle convinced me to strap some thin boards to the bottom of my feet and at least brave the kiddie slope at Beaver Run. I was satisfied enough with the breathtaking views just riding the ski lift, but part of me wanted to prove to the young ones that I still have spunk & courage and all I needed was to summon it up.

Another sis, Miss Belize 1981 and her family flew in a day late after missing their plane and tagged along my other nephews & nieces, Marlese, Stephan, Justin & Cody. Grand matriarch stood proudly in the cold watching all her grandchildren play, minus one, my son Tyler who is still stuck in Kenya until next year when he turns 18 and becomes FREE from forced custody by his father.

I could barely walk out of the ski rental shop after they strapped the big heavy ski boots to my feet which felt more like my feet was trapped in buckets of cement.

As I walked out the door like R2D2 from Star Wars with robotic movements, the shop attendant who ushered me out the door to fend for myself said, “remember Heel/toe, heel/toe” since the dangers of skiing for me started with the very first step out of the shop .

I sweated in the cold & fought to catch my breath just trying to make it to the top of the small hill. A sign said we were 2 miles up into the sky and all I could think is that this is probably the closest I'll ever get to heaven.

Gone was the fear of not having health insurance and the possibility of a hospital in the US putting a lien on my Caribbean hotel for unpaid hospital bills. I had envisioned myself as a twisted wreckage at the bottom of the hill earlier, but when I saw all the small kids whizzing by, I thought, how hard can this be? I know how to water ski, same concept right? Well, wrong! After making it down to the bottom of the hill on my ass a few times, the skis following closely behind, I decided to take my photo op and just be a spectator.