Learning to Fly

So, remember how in a previous blog post I mentioned that my parents had two honeymoons? And that one of them was to St. Thomas? Well, little did I know, but my father had been saving a lot of money in secrecy for the past 12 years after that date. He wanted to go back to the Caribbean more than anything, and started to my mother. I, on the other hand, was an awkward 13 year old shut-in who didn't care much about anything at all. So I was pretty cool with whatever happened. In fact, up until I was 15 or so, I actually used to be so bad with travel that my parents were afraid to send me more than 20 minutes away from the house.

But in April of 2007, I learned how to fly. More importantly, I got my first taste of the lovely headache that can be airport security. Otherwise, I was acutely unaware of the world around me. Just how massive it is, just how incredible it is to be on a plane knowing that you're going somewhere new. Until one day, I was sitting on my first plane ride ever to North Carolina and then onwards to St Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands.

A few of many great photos taken in St. Thomas.

I remember getting up around 5 in the morning, white early than I am used to, as our plane was to depart around 9 from BWI airport in Baltimore. We got our suitcases packed, organized a loose schedule for the trip, and headed for the plane. At this stage of my life, I was battling an issue with depression, as I didn't fit in with any of my classmates back then. I was the nerdy outcasts looking for an escape, and I figured that this could very well be a wonderful Escape.

I put a Pink Floyd mix CD on my Casio CD player as the plane hit the runway, remembering to listen 1st to learning to fly off of a momentary lapse of reason. That song inspired me more than words could compare, filling me with an eternal sense of bliss every time I listen to the song to this day. Are playing taxi Off The Runway, speeds incomprehensible to any human on land, and bellowed towards this guy. I was really Learning to Fly. I was learning how free it meant to be when you are in a metal chassis several thousand miles off the grounds, departing at speeds unknown for something unknown. What a great gift, what a wonderful mystery and an exuberating feeling!

Although mostly independent, the US Virgin Islands have been part of United States for several decades. What is most interesting about them is that they drive on the left side of the road, but they drive standard American cars which are meant for right side driving. Lots of left-turn accidents have happened in the past, but anybody on St. Thomas takes a traffic accident with a serious grain of salt. Fortunately, we were not victims of any accident.

As far as weather goes, it was pretty mild all over the island. When it rains however, it would literally rain on one side of the street but not the other. We went on a submarine tour our first day, experiencing the wildlife underneath the sea in St Thomas. We stayed at Sapphire Beach, a nice Oceanside Resort, and spent a lot of time going to the bar for drinks, and for me a virgin daiquiri or martini, practicing for snorkeling, actually going snorkeling and seeing cool but scary stuff, swimming, or just in general hanging out. There were a lot of very cute Beach bods as well from what I remember.

Since the trip was literally a decade ago from the time of writing this, I only remember bits and pieces of what all transpired. I remember going snorkeling on a snorkeling tour and seeing a barracuda, as well as parasailing for the first time in my entire life. What a freaky feeling to be up in the air attached to a rope following a small little boat. I also remember playing steel drum at a local restaurant called the Agave Terrace, wishing that the street Carnival hadn't finished up the week before we got there, and going to the Skylift that crests a scenic view of the island. I also got to experience my first time (and hardcore blushing all around) as well as facilitate dialogue with the female kind for the first actual time in my life, regardless of their inhibitory status.

I also went parasailing!

As you can plainly here and imagine, there was a lot to see and do on this trip. There were plenty of geographical sites to be found, plenty of Memoirs, dedications, statues, and memorials, a lot of restaurants, and a lot of expensive food. There was a local who made a trophy for us out of coconut (which we let him keep because of customs). My dad got the message because he wanted to sit and talk with the guy as he works, and get to understand a bit about his life and culture. All in all, despite geographical location, life in St Thomas isn't too entirely different from life in the states. Although the entire population is right around as tiny as York is now, they're still quite mighty.

Like Grandparent, Like Grandchild

Although my father and mother imparted wisdom about their travels to me, the individuals the most inspired me to become a Wanderlust travel junkie are my grandparents. They hand spent almost their entire lives in York, Pennsylvania, but did indeed escape from its maw at one point to see the world. Both of them graduated from schools in the area, my grandfather from the Catholic school and my grandmother from the city school. They got married shortly after graduation, at which point my grandfather was in the Air Force and on his way to becoming one of their head cryptologist. This was during the time of the peace riots and protests, and he also happens to be in Birmingham, Alabama. When things got too crazy, and safety was becoming endangered, they left and went to Fairbanks, Alaska. Although their honeymoon was short, they more than made up for it by being in Fairbanks.

In Fairbanks, Alaska, there really is no such thing as a light and day cycle for most of the year. And the summer, the Sun never sets. In winter, the Sun never rises. The weather is usually pretty frigid, and as such, the only people that would walk the streets at night or to and from work would be government officials and my grandfather. Not even the locals there to face the chilling Arctic winds that sometimes reached 30°F below 0. He saw the Northern Lights more times than he can count on his hands, lived in an igloo for a month, met with the locals in the Alaskan Bush People (literally), and ate the food of the locals, which included a lot of potatoes and fish. And yes, he even went dog sledding once or twice.

To this day, my grandparents continue to tell me all some stories about their travels. After having their 5 children, they didn't get to see her do a whole lot, but when they did have enough money scraped together to get away, they took full advantage of it. A lot of family day trips around the area were had, and once or twice, they even got to see things in a different state. Thanks to my grandparents, I have been inspired to see the things that they have done and the places they have gone.

And so, within budgetary constraints, that is my goal. I want to see and do as much as I can, in the spirit of the locale. And I will do this as long and as often as I am possibly able to. I want to get to my grandparents age and have a lot of stories to tell. Let's make it happen.

Nuclear Fission

A once happy family of three.

Before going into the content of the post, let me describe what the title means. In family studies in Psychology, we call the building blocks of a traditional family a nuclear family. This includes a maternal figure, a paternal figure, and a child. This is the building block, the nucleotide, the atom of familial structure. When an atom splits in a chemical sense, it is called nuclear fission. I have chosen the title of this post due to my family background, which I will now explain.

In the beginning, I was a happy accident. My mother was deemed unfair told by several doctors, and my father never planned on having children after his first marriage had failed. However, into the world I came, exactly a week after my dad's birthday and exactly a week before Halloween. My parents went on two honeymoons; one to Saint Thomas, and one to Cancun, Mexico. I was six months old when they decided they would marry and try the whole marriage thing again, mostly for the sake of me. We never had a whole lot of money, but what spare money we had, we enjoyed by traveling to amusement parks and small things within an hour or two drive.

My father, unfortunately, was an alcoholic. He didn't care very much about his health, and an ultimately did him in. He developed pancreatic cancer and passed away when I was 15, leaving behind many unanswered questions, and a lifetime of opportunities unexplored. My mother herself was a survivor of breast cancer, and something that she never took for granted. In fact, it was through her illness that we discovered my father's illness, and he taught me some of my greatest life lessons during our final chat before he went on hospice.

I still remember the conversation like it was yesterday. I was young and naive, so I didn't realize that he was getting ready to say goodbye to this lifetime. You see, at the Cancer Center in Philadelphia, there is a pineapple statue in the center of a fountain. This pineapple is said to bring joy peace, courage, hope, and strength to patients and their families. It was at this Fountain, where I had wheeled my dad in his wheelchair, that he gave me some of life's greatest lessons.

It was here that my dad taught me that he had a list of things that he never got to do with us, or for himself. It was here that he told me to go out and see the world and do whatever I could to make him and Mom proud. And he also told me that I have one short lifetime, so I better take care of my mom the best that I know how. I didn't think much of the conversation at the time, but it's time he wrote it on words, I started to understand more and more what he was actually saying.

Fast forward to present day, and it's been about eight years since the family split after his passing. I still do whatever I can to see the good in everything, to take care of this world around me, and to see as much of it as I possibly can. And I know I won't stop until my biological clock runs out. I will do everything that I can to keep the family together and going strong, while using my father's stories as fuel for the fire.