“I figured when I didn’t hear from you last week that you were off somewhere,” Maga said.
“I was! I thought my phone would work, so I didn’t warn you. But then I tried to call you and…nothing…”
“I thought you had one of those phones that worked everywhere.”
“Yeah, me too. But since it didn’t work, I wrote you a postcard instead. You should be getting it soon.”
“Thank you! I’ll look forward to that. How was the weather there?”
“Perfect. Sunny. Warm. Lovely.”
“The Caribbean general has pretty good weather.”
“You can say that again.”
“Did you do much swimming?”
“Actually, yes. About half of the days. I’ve never seen water so clear before.”
“How nice.”
“Did you like swimming?” Her pause confused me. I wasn’t sure if she couldn’t hear me or was deep in thought. “You know, when you were younger?”
“Oh, yes. I loved going to the beach, bouncing around in the waves.”
“Did you take many family trips to the beach?”
“Yes. They were special. When you have young children you don’t like to go off and leave them especially, so you take them with you.”
It was my turn to get lost in thought, as I was busy imaging Maga “bouncing in the waves” and my mom on the beach. My mom, who is always doing something, going somewhere, planning something…and who doesn’t enjoy lounging around on the sand.
“Did you get a suntan?” Maga’s voice broke into my reverie.
“No! But then again, I didn’t want one.”
“I suppose it is a weird time of year for a tan.”
“Well that and the sun is dangerous. I didn’t want to expose my skin.”
“Yes, those ultraviolet rays can be trouble.”
“You can say that again.”
“It’s fun that you had a little winter vacation. April is often cold and rainy.”
It’s true. April often has a bit of an identity crisis (is it a winter or spring month?) and so this trip, this break from my real life was oh so needed and the fact that tonight we covered variations of these topics more often than I reapplied sunscreen last week, didn’t bother me as it’s nothing but a joy to journey back to the sun drenched days I spent in St. Maarten.
Abigail Mumford 