Staying in touch.

I was recently commanded by a very old friend (I guess I should say long time because he's not old, because if he's old then that makes me old and I'm certainly not that...) to stay in touch now that we have connected again. He also said something about being jealous of me living in the Caribbean. I wrote back with a couple lists... Here's what I wrote to him (more or less).

I'll try to think of some things you can be jealous about, and some that will help you love where you are...

1. Winter isn't really winter because it's more like perfect. Warm, but not hot or humid.
2. I love living by a river. It sounds awesome and it's an easy fun trip for us to play in the cool water.
3. I love having a fenced yard so I can send the kids (all 5 of them) outside to play and not worry my head off that something terrible will happen. Of course, we did have that at our last house in Alaska so I guess that could be anywhere.
4. I love having so many different things to see and do - even though it's all sort of the same, it's all so neat (as long as we can survive the drive to get there... but that will go on the other list). And again, if you take some time you'll find that where ever you live there are some great things to see and do, but might take some effort in getting to.
5. Beach with ocean or sea, mountains, rivers, sulfur springs, boiling lake, rain forest, waterfalls, gorges, snorkeling and scuba diving... what more can there be? We also like the pool so that's a bonus!
6. There is a branch of the Church that is just a 30-minute walk for us (me and my 3 oldest, the 2 youngest ride in the stroller). I'm so glad we have the Church - they make up my family and my friends.
7. There are lots of other things that I love but you can see them most places around the world: sunsets, rainbows, bats flying by the street lights to try and catch bugs, cows on the side of the road or in my yard (not really my favorite, just sort of funny), chickens and goats all over just doing their own thing...
8. I love taking pictures of the plants and flowers. It is all so beautiful.

The other list:
1. We have to get our drinking water from the University campus so Kevin usually takes two empty gallon jugs with him after dinner to fill them and bring them home for us to drink the next day.
2. To get anywhere more than 10 mile radius is on very narrow winding roads with drivers who go faster than you think they should. It's a little crazy.
3. Centipedes... need I say more (although at our new house we haven't seen any of the red kind)4. There is no such thing as customer service because they just don't care.
5. I will never be able to get used to Dominican Standard Time.
6. The cheap diapers really are cheap and I hate them but I can't get myself to spend the extra money on the other stuff - I get "buy one, get one free" with the cheap stuff.
7. Here are a few of the things that we have had shortages of: gas for cars and boats, eggs, flour, electricity, propane, internet, water... that's a pretty good list.
8. The water that I put down my sinks or the showers goes out my house and into the gutter and then to the street. I don't even want to think about the tank that holds the water from my toilet.
9. We really miss the library - story time and checking out books.

So, it has it's good side and it also has the other. I try to focus on the good so that we can all enjoy the wonderful opportunity that is ours - to be here. I love President Monson's talk from General Conference in Oct 2008 about finding joy in the journey - that's what it's all about. So come and visit if you want but enjoy where you are too :-)

So, that's the message I sent to my friend, with a few edits. I just thought I could send it out to y'all too. Maybe I've already done a list like this... oh well.