#noplacelikehome

So I'm not really one for making New Years' resolutions.  I know myself and I know how hard it is to follow through on many of the things I promise myself.  I have purchased many a coupon for 30 day membership etc to the gym which have gone completely unused.  One of the biggest things I had determined to do this year was stop drinking Coca-Cola...but I managed to quit last year October so I'll have to find something else...so I decided to make this years goals more of a "what I will do and less of what I won't do"  One thing I want to do is be more regular about posting on my blog.  So the goal I'm setting for myself is once a month.  Believe you me my life is really not exciting enough to warrant postings more frequently than that.  Ideally I would do the post at the end of the month to encapsulate all the aspects of the good, the bad and the 'hmmm' But I just had to post about this last week that I have been in Trinidad...my beautiful twin island home land.  Many times we hear the term "there's no place like home" and the truth of it never really resonates with us until you have experienced an extended absence from home or you live in a place that is diametrically opposite to what is your social and cultural norm.  Living in Boston as a Trini, the weather is one of the biggest differences that I experience.  Many times when I look at my friends pictures on facebook in the middle of December/January/February and see them posing in shorts, slippers or tank tops I can only sigh...the beauty of wearing "summer clothes" all year is unexplainable.  The other great thing about home is the food...everything about the food...there are things that we eat that cannot be explained just experienced.  I cannot tell you how many times I have tried to explain "doubles" to a foreigner...the best I've been able to do is "a fried bread made with a split pea dough and curried chick peas filling between" Now any Trini hearing that would be absolutely lost.  When I'm home there are a some things that are vitally important to me...food, friends and family.  Facebook does a really great job of helping me to stay in touch with everyone and seeing pics and everything about daily life.  But it can never replace the feeling a good hug from loved ones...all my daughters, sisters and brothers in Christ from my home church...the feeling of being loved and truly a part of cannot be replaced by postings on a computer screen.  Seeing face to face the infants you once held, now holding conversation with you...leaves me speechless and really there are no words to describe it.  And the food...phlourie, saheena, doubles, roti, pelau, mango - julie, starch, rose- pomerac, pommecythere, pawpaw, tamarind ball, sugar cake, puff, sweetbread, aloo pie, fry bake...just a few of the amazing foods that make us uniquely Trini.  Truth is we're not perfect in many ways but who we are a a people and how we live and how we love just makes life great.  Love my little island...