Global Warming: This Is NOT The Same Sun I Grew Up On…🇯🇲

As evidenced by me wearing the thinnest material, and it being lopsided because I didn’t want much of it touching my skin. Why? Because despite wearing SPF 100 sunblock (I didn’t even know they made that), and plastering it to where Courtney, aka Rev, asked, “Are you not going to rub that in?”, I still got burned within 15 minutes of exposure. In fact, I think I have a lil sun ‘pawsin’ because I still ain’t quite right 😔. I stayed bloated the whole time which is stopping me from sharing other pics, and also requiring me to apologize to my body for taking it into that climate without warning.

While all of the above is included in my experience in Jamaica, it does NOT overshadow the love I received and felt.

I planned this trip last year because I believe in, and needed, layaway payments. Let Affirm, Afterpay or anything similar start offering trips and see won’t I become a global traveler 💁🏾‍♀️. We were deep in a pandemic, and I didn’t want the judgement, or lack of participation, from others to deter my plans to celebrate my 40th birthday. I told the travel agent to plan a solo trip, and while she was willing, she also encouraged me to at least put the invitation out to see if anyone was interested. I did, and to my surprise…six more people joined me!

There was a ‘Courtney’ in every room. Courtney H., aka CeCe, and I share the same hairstylist/friend who was also on the island with her daughter. They arrived before us and left after us, but joined us on our snorkeling excursion. CeCe brought her cousin, Ros, who was ready to have some fun and we were so proud she ventured to try new things. The three of us flew together.

There was Courtney J., aka Rev, who received permission from her husband to travel after receiving the vaccination. She roomed with Desiree, who does NOT like people (barely even the ones she knows), so I was shocked she agreed to come hang around four strangers. I think it was more of needing a break from parenting a toddler during a pandemic that gave her the urge, but I’m taking her love for me as the reason. 😌

Then there was the male ‘Courtney’ H., whose aka, CourtENAY, is also his birth name and must be enunciated as such per his mother. He’s also my younger cousin and traveled with our other cousin Kameka…and boy, did she keep us on all 60 of our toes!

Yes, Jamaicans offer you marijuana upon arrival. Yes, some will try and hustle you, but above all…JAMAICANS WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU! We paid a piece of change for our amenities, but the hospitality was above and beyond anything I could have imagined. They hit and missed calling me Micha versus Micah, but it was their attempts to personalize my experience that intrigued me. They are serious about protecting themselves, AND others, from Covid, which we all appreciated. Most of all, THEY KNOW HOW TO L I V E!!!

My posts are never about boasting, but always about sharing experiences I think we all should witness on some level. I’m sharing this one mainly because it felt INCREDIBLE to be the MAJORITY! The White people participated as best they could and were really friendly, but many of them looked like Will Ferrell, when he played Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights and didn’t know what to do with his hands while being interviewed. It was a new experience for them. The Blacks, on the other hand, it was an at capacity family reunion with more thong bikinis and twerking than you will ever witness in a strip club and…well…I LOVED IT!

I always look for signs to show me I’m in the right place at the right time, and our personal driver was it. He transported us to the excursion and told us if we needed to go anywhere else to call him. He said his name was Michael. Easy to remember since that is also my Dad’s first name. It wasn’t until he came to pick us up the next day and told us that he started his transportation business 3 months before the pandemic and because he was just getting started again, he wanted us to follow him on social media and write a review, I knew I was in the right place. You know me…if there is a way to give back, I will do my best to comply. When we asked what his social media handles were and he replied, “James Vacations…”

Me: Lord, you play too much. You gave that man my Daddy’s whole name?!? 😳🙌🏾

I plan to go back and I hope the pandemic will be over. Either way, “Mi Lady” knows where to go to be loved and treated like family. Even the Gate Agent wished me a Happy Belated Birthday as I boarded the plane. 🤗❤️🇯🇲

In the meantime, I have to re-up my funds because I returned to my boy-man who is always looking for food, who is also getting ready to incur senior fees, and I need money for my deductible for therapy because his ‘teenagering’ is wearing on me. 🙏🏾