St. Barths

The other big romance in her life was with the sea. Bette’s secret wish was to own a home someday on a beach in an island somewhere, or by the shoreline in the Carolinas, where Tina was from.  Of course, an ideal spot would be right here in the Caribbean.  Wherever it was going to be, it didn’t have to be a big place; all Bette wanted was a stove to be able to occasionally cook special food for Tina, an open-space kitchen that flowed to a living/dining area, a bedroom with a view of the beach, a stout roof that would keep them dry when it rained, sturdy walls that would protect them when the winds blew.  A hammock would be great, too, tied to trees that would shade them from the hot noon-day sun.  Maybe another hammock over the water, if the house was on a shallow beach.  Oh, a Jacuzzi or sunken bath built into an adjoining private terrace to their bedroom where they could relax while ruminating on undisturbed views of the beach and the sea would be great..  The beach home should have  access to a spectacular coral reef, too.  And good fishing further out, accessible through a simple boat.  And that was it!  Not too much to ask, was it?

Her romance with Tina, though. It was undoubtedly the most significant relationship in her life, now and always. But we seem to be going through something unexpected now, and should be learning a lasting lesson about what happens when our attention wavers even just a bit from our each other.  And a lesson about forgiveness, too. 

“Tina. My one true love.”

Simpler but more complicated than her romance with the sea.

“But the sea, though. It can be amazingly beautiful.” Every visit to a seaside resort rekindled this love. Why?  As she gazed at the roiling waters, sipping occasionally from her mocha latte she murmured, “It is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea – whether it is to sail or to watch it – we are going back from whence we came…”