My Trip to Aruba

My world crashed a year ago, April 2011.  The life I had known for the past 15 years came shattering down literally overnight.  I talked to my counselor about all the "firsts" coming up - my "first wedding anniversary" since the divorce proceedings, the "anniversary" of my world changing in the blink of an eye, the "anniversary" of Stewart moving out, etc.  She said, "Jennifer, you are going to have to give yourself so much leeway in the weeks to come!"  Well, I decided right then that I was going away for some "me time" to give ME all the leeway I needed!  Stewart had the children for Spring Break and I knew my heart would absolutely ache every second I sat in the house without them...So to Aruba I went. 

Now, we have been there several times so I was familiar with the area and knew that I wouldn't need to sightsee or do anything overly active.  In fact, I actually ended up reading 4 books in 4 days :-)  It was FANTASTIC ... just what I needed!

This was the view of the pool from my room! 

At this particular hotel, the "highway" that runs through town runs in front of the hotel and separates it from the "beach" so they built a trunnel under the road and a boat comes into the hotel lobby, picks you up and whisks you off to the hotel's private island about a 10-minute boat-ride away!

 Here is the boat picking some people up ...

That's the hotel just in front of us ... we're getting closer...

 and closer...

 and closer!  So cool!

 Out on the island, the flamingos are literally steps away ...

 literally steps away ... since there had been someone sitting in that seat next to me about 5 minutes prior to this little guy strutting through!

 On the island, there are hammocks with the best breeze in the world!

The sun had a huge rainbow around it everyday ... it was the coolest thing!

Needless to say,

If I don't make it back before then, I will definitely be there in 2 years to celebrate my 40th birthday!  Thank you to my counselor for reminding me to give myself leeway!!  It was a much needed trip that gave me a chance to put everything into perspective!