The day after

Because I think maybe you didn't sleep last night out of concern for my eye, and because I have nothing else going on, here's a next-day update:

Less swelling, more vibrant bruising



And because I saw a moose on the drive to Jackson, here are two pictures of a moose:

Why meeeeee

Here's the backstory on my eye thing. About four months ago, I developed some sort of little white cyst-y thing just under the skin on my eyelid. It didn't bother me much and wasn't very noticeable, so I let it reside there. Plus, my options for having it removed on Statia were A) limited and B) dubious. So we learned to coexist.

But then I up and moved to Idaho, and the cyst swelled right up. This was not okay with me. I went to the dermatologist this morning.

Just as Jon predicted, the doctor drained my eye. He injected the lump with lidocaine and scalpeled the S out of that cyst. I couldn't feel any pain beyond the needle, but there was plenty of squeezing in addition to ripping sensations. Eventually what I'd thought was a cyst was worked out - it was actually a rice-sized calcium deposit.

The whole thing was fascinating and I wanted explanations throughout the entire process, but afterward when I began ruminating over the horrible sensations I'd felt and thinking about that needle going into my swell-eye, it sort of turned my stomach. So when Jon and my mom stopped at Cafe Rio right afterward for lunch, I abstained from food, forlornly iced my incision, and attracted stares.

Here it is about two hours post-surgery:

Aaand, with my eye [partially] open:

The doctor told me the bruising might get worse and spread over the next few days. He also assured me that what he'd extracted was definitely organic and terrestrial.

What are you looking at?

Oh, this thing on my eyelid?


Pretty sure it's nothing. Don't even worry about it. I only mention it because, while filling out the new patient form for my dermatologist office visit tomorrow morning, the following conversation took place:

Me: Why do they need an emergency contact?

Jon: It's in case they go to surgically remove it, and it ends up being an artery.

My mom: Or an alien.

Me: An ALIEN! IT'S NOT THAT BAD!!

Jon: It's pretty bad. Well...it's worse from the side.

(he's right)

St. Maarten

It was an accident that we had to spend a night on St Maarten on our way home – something to do with buying our second+ legs of the journey before buying the first, which is not recommended. But we decided to make the most of it and flew over in the morning for a day filled with beachtastic adventures.

We stayed at the Maho resort, a first for us. The resort’s beach lies at the end of the airport runway, and I’ve wanted to go ever since I originally found out that there was such a thing.




Incoming! This first one sort of freaked me out to be honest. I actually ducked – it felt like it was going to take my head off. And this is just a little guy – big commercial airlines land on the same runway. I moved aside for those.












We noticed too late when a large plane lined up for takeoff. I realized what was about to happen at the very last moment and took off running. Poor Jon, on the other hand. He was directly behind the thrusters. Once the resulting sandstorm died down enough for me to turn around and look for him, all I saw was his body curled into a little ball, facedown. Turtled, if you will.

This picture is not mine, but illustrates my point nicely:


(source)

Suddenly the sign made a lot more sense:

We survived, as did the stupid white trash guys hanging onto the fence for dear life (subsequent research taught me this is called “surfing the fence”). And as it turns out, no one’s died on Maho Beach from jet blast, just from being stabbed.

Additional viewing (of jet blast, not of stabbings) HERE.


The rest of our day:

Jon floating

A different view of Saba than I'm used to.

Waiting for the dinner buffet.

Drool.

Between courses.

The view from our balcony.

Over too soon. The next day it was a flight to Miami, a flight to LA, a night on the floor in LAX, and a flight to Salt Lake leading directly into a shuttle trip up to St Anthony. 26 solid hours of travel time all in all.

I’m still recovering.

Statia: the Final Days (part 3)

On our last Friday night, Lianna threw Jon an awesome Survivor-themed surprise birthday/going-away party. It was supposed to be a surprise for me, too. Oops.

Definitely deserved the DOUBLE thumbs up.

Lianna's cake was way fancier than the one I made the next day.

All the kids were threatened with their lives if they tried to blow out any of the candles.

Jon teaching his mom how to snorkel.

Love this candid Jon snapped, especially Pearl laying on the table.

Birthday lunch (and dessert) at Blue Bead restaurant.

Ocean, boat, moon at Botanical Gardens.

Botanical Gardens again (Quill in the background)

Hummingbird

Looking through Jon's binocs. She thought it was the best thing ever. Also, when do kids learn how to wink? Just wondering because my sister and I missed that milestone.

Mr. Tumnus? Is that you?

And what a view it is!

Our neighbor Christopher cracking open one last coconut for us the night before we left.

We snorkeled our two last days, which ended up being two of the best snorkel days of our entire 20 months on Statia. The first day we saw a ray, a turtle, our first octopus, and a moray eel. And on the last day we swam with TWO sea turtles, as they swam with each other.

And that’s it for Statia. Next up, our mini-vacation on St Maarten. (tangent - I called my sister Annie in the Miami airport and told her “it felt so good to land on America”. She laughed at me.)

Stay tuned.

Statia: the Final Days (part 2)

Jon graduated! Again! And not for the last time!

Great background.

The fam

Blurry picture of Jon about to receive his fake diploma (the real one is in the mail). A little premature on the shutter button, Jessie.

Left to right – Island Governor Berkel (Jon, of course, said “’ello, Guv-nuh” when he shook hands with him), school provost Dr. Nassar, Jonny J, school president Dr. Wizneski, local doctor Sharda Baboe.

Receiving Statia ambassadorship from the Governor

With two of his favorite professors, the Alexanders.

So proud. kthxbai.