The Journey North

     The link to the YouTube video below shows the island of my forefathers, Puerto Rico as it was in the 1940′s. This is the land they loved, and yet abandoned to find a place where they could work; so, they might live.

     My mom and dad insisted they were ordinary people, who traveled to a new land, learned a new language and strange new ways. It was a frightening, difficult journey that they each undertook alone, because they had not yet met.

     My father was an army man, who had lied about his age to enlist during the First World War. Afterward, he travelled to New York for medical treatment for injuries incurred during the war years.

     As for my mother, there were additional dangers. She was nineteen-years-old when to escape the poverty of home, mom smuggled herself aboard a ship and hid in a life boat. The ship’s crew did not discover the stowaway until they had entered New York Harbor. She had made it, but mom still had to pay the penalty for stowing away—indentured servitude as a maid in a New York apartment.

     The voyage north was definitely not for the faint of heart, but they were both young and strong; they persevered. Eventually, my parents met and married. They made a new home they learned to love as deeply as the one they had left behind because, in this new place their children were born.

     Although the future beckoned,  once in a while they looked back, and measured how far they had come. It was then that they carefully unwrapped their fragile memories of their island childhood home and shared them with my brother and me. The very first time they did this I discovered just how truly extraordinary my parents were.

     Although I was not born on the island of Puerto Rico, that was where my story began:

http://youtu.be/srmGAdHAWFM

Taino Tattoo Symbols

For all my friends who are into tattoos and wish to honor Taino culture, here are my favorite images.

I really can’t decide which I love more, the tiny Coquí  or the magnificent sol. You can really feel that Caribbean heat with this sun symbol, but the song of the Coquí at night is magic. 

courtesy of http://www.freetattoodesigns.org/taino-tattoos.html   Pay them a visit for other sun symbols.

And just in time for Valentine’s Day—a pair of Taino lovebirds.

Taino symbol of eternal love.

But with love and romance you also need the magic of the moon:

Taino moon symbol

Here la luna dances her way through the night sky. Dance with her!

Home Again

Sandhill crane in Florida. Image via Wikipedia

It was a difficult decision, but finally reason prevailed.  I packed my things, loaded the car, kissed everyone good-by and returned home. Vacation over.

Sandhill Crane

I will miss visiting places with names like Yee-haw and Flippin, and I regret failing to photograph the huge and magnificent  sandhill cranes—maybe next time they will learn to cooperate. Until then I have this photo to remind me that once we stared each other down—and they won.

The trip home was difficult, the weather horrendous; most drivers were on a mission to seek and destroy anything that moved. It seemed that every ten miles roadsigns told of repair crews, seemingly invisible, but requiring the speed be limited to 55 mph non-the-less. Lastly, I discovered that the highway police are very hard working, particularly in Georgia where patrol cars hide behind strategically-placed dense shrubbery to snag the unwary. Luckily, they were too busy writing tickets to bother with me.

Time to unpack.