another year gone by...

Here I am, one year and eight days since I landed in the Maldives and was greatly surprised by the captain's "Welcome to the Maldives...the cabin crew are going to walk through spraying insecticide...." which was immediately followed by the lovely flight attendants spraying the plane down with bug spray. I hid under a blanket.

I remember seeing the beautiful atolls from above for the first time, like a painting or a dream. The first night, sipping cocktails on the sunset jetty, seeing the view from my dreams of 7 months previous. I knew it was right. Seven has always been my lucky number. In Jewish mysticism, it's the number that represents God. It's always appeared as a signpost for me that I was where I needed to be. The only place I've ever lived for more than a year? 5747 Richmond Ave., #7. There were 7 apartments aside from mine. Here? My room is number 7 and I came 7 months after I dreamed of a place I'd never seen or imagined. Of course, I never see the sevens until after a choice, as a reassurance. It's kind of like guessing which turn off you're supposed to take and seeing a sign when you're a mile down the road which tells you that you are on the right track.

You don't believe in signs and numbers? No worries. We each have our own ways of making our way through the best that we can. Mine has signposts, like road signs to help me on my highway of life. It works for me. I hope yours works for you.

It hasn't been easy. There are good times and bad times on an island this size. While it's true that there are good and bad times everywhere, it's intensified when living in a microcosym. There are days when you hate being here and every molecule in your being longs to be anywhere else so that you feel as if you might explode. Then there are days when you stroll across the silky white sand, you laugh as you snorkel with the millions of brightly colored fish, you breathe in the fresh air as you take in the water color horizon...and you're happy to be here.

Of course, it's much easier to talk about how happy I am to be here when in four days I'm leaving for 45 days, and I've at least another 25 days off the island (in addition) in October!

I am happy though. I'm also happy to return to my beloved Barcelona for a month and a half.