Turks and Caicos!

Well after much ado about nothing, I made it to the Turks and Caicos. Yes, I did. I rose before the sun to take a car service to the airport, checked myself in, grabbed a coffee, watched some sad news about Haiti, then hopped on a plane and flew internationally solo, sans kids, husband, or friends. I then landed solo, grabbed a taxi and arrived alive at our hotel. Due to a delayed flight Brent was playing a delayed game of golf with some clients. Was I perturbed that he was not there to pick me up? Only slightly, but thanks to some encouraging words from Lorrie the night before I made it okay. I let myself into the room, looked around, put on a swim suit and headed down to the cabana for some lunch. Luckily I am independent and an introvert, so after a stressful period of time leading up to this trip I really didn't mind some time to myself to decompress. Plus I had just checked out a new book from the library that I was dying to read. I started reading on the plane which was a great idea. This book completely took my mind off of flying. The tuna salad with mixed greens and basalmic vinaigrette dressing was fabulous. I did feel a bit snobby though when I requested a bottle of water rather than the glass of ice water that was brought to me. Like I said, I am not much of a risk taker, a stomach virus was not on my agenda for the weekend.

I was getting along just nicely until the sun started to set. Brent had mentioned they would be finished with their golf game in between 4:00 and 5:00. It was 5:30 and I still didn't see him. The weather became a bit cooler so I covered up with a towel and closed my eyes for just a minute.

You would not believe, nor can I accurately describe what happened next...I awoke to a pack of wild dogs nearly about to attack me! As I opened my eyes, I had not one, not two, but THREE dogs sniffing me. My survival instincts kicked in and I reminded myself to stay calm. I kept breathing, but tried not to move. Luckily, a nearby vacationer must have noticed my distress, because he called the dogs to him. After that my adrenaline had kicked in. I grabbed my book, towel, and flip flops and headed up to the room. The sun was going down, it was getting cooler and darker, I was in a country I had never visited before and Brent was nowhere to be found. I hastily rushed off to the room for a shower. The only problem was that I could not get the water hot enough. Talk about frustration! Finally, Brent arrived back from his game. He was in a great mood and happy to see. My greeting to him? I told him that the next time he wanted a vacation with me he should invite me on a proper vacation, fly down with me, and not make me share the time with clients!

After a little while I calmed down enough to tell him about my ordeal with the pack of wild dogs. His concern was truly touching. I told him I would show him a picture of two of the dogs. Well, that did it, after he saw the picture of the dogs he started laughing. He pointed out that the dogs had collars and did not look wild to him. He then pointed out that they did not actually attack me. I tried to see if from his perspective and ended up laughing as well.

I ended up forgiving him an accompanying him and his clients and the partners he works with to an awesome five course dinner. The food was amazing and eating outdoors in the open air was very pleasant. I ordered the yellow tail snapper. It came to me whole, head and all. When asked if I wanted it filleted, I politely responded, please.