galveston, oh galveston

Marcus and Alex hit the beach.

Until recent years, our family has tried to go to the Caribbean at least once a year. That sounds fancier than I mean it to sound: as you know, I’m from the Caribbean, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that it’s damned near imperative for me to spend time in the West Indies, if only occasionally. For me, going home isn’t about anything more than being in a culture that feels deeply familiar, a respite from living in a country that, while I navigate it well enough, will never feel fully like a part of me. Nothing makes me exhale faster or deeper than standing in the sea in my home region.

Of course, since COVID, the prospect of leisure travel has gone out the window, no matter how personally necessary I may feel it is. So it’s been years since I’ve been back home. But as time has gone on, I realized that I needed to be near the ocean. My mind needed it. So when I mentioned this to Marcus, he suggested we book a beach house in nearby Galveston. And although Galveston is nothing like the Caribbean, I couldn’t wait to go.

As it happens, this summer has been a tough one for my dad — in the last six weeks, he’s lost two of his sisters. First, he lost one sister to COVID. Then a few weeks later, he lost his baby sister, suddenly and completely unexpectedly, due to causes that remain undetermined. Needless to say, their deaths have knocked the wind out of our family, but especially my dad — and it was particularly rough, because he couldn’t fly home for either of their funerals. So Marcus and I decided to invite my mom and dad to come stay with us at the beach.

As Trinidadians, they find the ocean deeply restorative, too.

We all attended my aunt’s funeral virtually last Friday, and Monday, Marcus, Alex and I headed down to the coast. On Tuesday, my mom and dad followed. And we spent the days doing … well, nothing. We sat on the porch and drank cocktails. We ate good food. We flew kites. We watched the birds, and looked at the stars.

We stood in the ocean.

And we all exhaled.

Flocks of brown pelicans kept flying over our house. I love pelicans.

Dad sprang for kites. Setting them up was serious business.

They worked a treat.

We fell in love with the Sky Guide app, especially since nights were particularly dark on the beach. The app allows you to simply point your phone to the sky, and it tells you what constellations, stars and satellites are overhead. Mesmerizing.

In other news: I’ll be sending out my newsletter in the next couple of days chock-full of juicy stuff (including information on how to be a member of the book launch team for The Lightmaker’s Manifesto!). If you haven’t yet signed up for the newsletter, please do so here.

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