May 19-21, 2011-Making Lemonade!

     All I have been able to think about, besides trying to stay caught up at work, take care of my youngest son’s foot, which got infected after closing a door on his big toe over a week ago, and getting ready for the end of the school year with all the thank you luncheons, last soccer games of the season, and final days of homework and studying for end of the year tests and assessments, is going to Roi to see my honey and dive this weekend. I can’t wait for summer, even though the weather is summerish all year, the lifestyle throughout the year is just as busy as a normal school year anywhere in the world.  The island of Roi is slower and reminds me of summertime on Kwaj though because there are no families and thus very few commitments to sports games, birthday parties, dance classes, etc…to attend when there, so it’s my “summer in the middle of winter” place to go and relax, away from the busyness of Kwajalein. The fact that my fiancé is a resident there and spoils me by cooking, washing dishes, taking me diving, etc….when I am at his place doesn’t hurt either. J  I am still a very lucky girl to have him and to have the privilege to be a sudo Roi rat and enjoy life on both islands more than most ever residents of either island have the opportunity to do so during their time on the atoll.   At any rate, it’s been a while since I’ve been to Roi, so I have been very excited to get there all week.
     Every time I step foot onto Roi-Namur, there’ s a nostalgia that instantly washes over me.  This island was my safe place for so long. It was the one spot that was just for me and the boys, so to speak, away from the painful memories of my life on Kwajalein over the years, away from all the things that reminded me daily of the fact that I couldn’t be with my babies as much as I wanted, and that I couldn’t provide a home for them because of the restrictions of my previous contract job.  Here, I had a place for them every weekend that I had them fully and completely to myself. I had a “normal” family life to provide them with planned fun activities, two “parents” to love and guide them, and I had total uninterrupted quality time with them for at least 2 days in a row and sometimes more when it was a long weekend or a break time from school. 

     Now, I have what was just a dream for me for so long, a home they can reside with me in, and more times than not, they are up to have breakfast with us, then out the door to play with friends. We have to let them know when we want to hang out with them and play games or cook together, so they are aware not to plan anything else ahead of time, but that’s part of them growing up.  They were younger during our “Roi Days,” and even though it was not an ideal situation at the time, we made lemonade out of the lemons life had dealt us, and I miss our times here.

     Even though it is just me this time, I am still happy to be here, simply because I miss it so much.  I’m already planning a trip for over the summer where we can all go camping and hang out like we used to on Roi.  Hopefully, they will appreciate their times here with us this summer even more since they rarely make it to the island during the school year anymore.  There’s just too much going on. Summers on Kwajalein are quiet. Most people go for a month or more to the states to be with family, so many of the boys’ friends will be gone, and there will be no sports, boy scouts, or any of the other variety of events that take up their time during the school year, so a Roi trip for the whole family is definitely in order.