Jet lag, laundry, football practices, cheer camp, gymnastics, and WeCareCannon. That is what re-entry to our life here has looked like this week. The majority of these things bring me joy, but those first two...I could do with out those.
I have looked through hundreds of pictures from our two weeks of day camp, island life, fun, and love and service. The smiles make me smile. The familiar little faces I know are too many miles away, but are etched on my heart. The memories are making my day dreams sweet and my sleep a little easier.
Below I am attaching a poem a good friend of mine shared with me a few years ago. She Faceboooked it to me, knowing how much Saba meant to me and how the island had changed me. Thanks, JJ.
We all are a composite of all the events, experiences, people, and places that have come and gone and/or stayed in our lives. It's so very true, isn't it? The way we behave, phrases that we say, the way we view things, and the habits we develop can 9 times out of 10 be traced back to someone in our life or an experience we have. We go places, people cross our paths, and we are never quite the same.
There is this vine that grows in my flower pots every summer. It has the cutest little yellow flower with a black center. It is a staple in my flower selection. Sometimes I have to search all over Murfreesboro just to find it. It is called the Black Eyed Susan vine...and it's Saba's national flower.
Many folks have opened my freezer to find, in their opinion, some of the oddest items. Sugar, flour, cornmeal, and the such. I am afraid of sugar ants. Tennessee doesn't have sugar ants...but Saba does.
These phrases roll off our tongues before we even think about it...
"Just now."
"She will make 10 in July."
"Okay. All right."
The Thomas house sounds like you are on the road in Saba a lot of days.
I use to mourn being away from the Unspoiled Queen, and let's be honest some yucky days I definitely still do. But this is the realization that I have had as of late...
Saba is always with me. We are not a part. She is in my flower bed and freezer. She is in how I speak. She is etched in the laughter of the three kids when we share memories and tell stories. Social media allows us to share pictures and life together on a daily basis. She will arrive on an airplane back in Nashville three times over this next month. Her people communicate with me and some even grace the rooms of our house with their presence.
Just as I pointed out in an earlier post, my grandmother's sweet spirit is a part of the island because she is a part of me. In the same manner, the spirit and the love found on Saba is a part of my life here in my home of Tennessee because Saba is a part of me.
This realization also embraces the thanksgiving for all my other people and places. My sweet family. Carthage. Jackson County. TTU and Cookeville. Pacific and St. Louis. Rome, Georgia. My current home of Cannon County. And all the people that make these places warm places in my heart and joyful thoughts in my days.
God intended for us to enjoy His creation and to be relational and connected with the people He placed on this earth and in our lives. His son was the greatest example of being in the moment, meeting people where they are at, and always remembering where you come from. He was the epitome of love and having it overtake one's life.
So I leave you with this poem. It always makes my heart smile.
If Once You Have Slept on an Island
If once you have slept on an island
You'll never be quite the same;
You may look as you looked the day before
And go by the same old name,
You may bustle about in street and shop
You may sit at home and sew,
But you'll see blue water and wheeling gulls
Wherever your feet may go.
You may chat with the neighbors of this and that
And close to your fire keep,
But you'll hear ship whistle and lighthouse bell
And tides beat through your sleep.
Oh! you won't know why and you can't say how
Such a change upon you came,
But once you have slept on an island,
You'll never be quite the same.
By: Rachel Lyman Field
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