August 8th — Greg and I spent seven days in heavenly St. Lucia at two fabulous resorts. The kids stayed with grandparents so Greg and I could join the honeymooners and anniversary couples at the luxury Caribbean resorts. I had forgotten how easy and fun it is to meet people on vacation, and we did have an interesting tale since we were celebrating the end of my cancer chemotherapy. It’s a sad reality that almost everyone you meet has been touched by cancer. One newlywed husband’s stepmom had survived breast cancer, one woman had a strong family history and tested positive for the BRAC gene even though she hasn’t had cancer, and our taxi driver’s ex-wife was a current chemo patient due to colon cancer. My favorite toast these days is “to health and long life,” because I won’t take those for granted after this past year. The first resort (www.ladera.com) was an open-air, three-walled room with two pools and the Caribbean’s best restaurant. I have to mention that for future reference, if one stays in a room with a pool and one has too much to drink and one tries to find the bathroom in the dark, one might fall into the aforementioned pool. The stars are fabulous for a ceiling but don’t offer much light. I told a friend about my mishap and she immediately wrote, “isn’t this the resort with only three walls on a cliff on a mountain? Be careful!” When Greg and I laughed about the incident the next day, we realized that could have had dire results if I had hit my head and drowned. True to our dark sense of humor about my cancer, I said, “well there would be a bright side to that tragic end: at least I wouldn’t have died from breast cancer!” After surviving the challenges of fruity rum drinks and in-room pools, we moved to the northern tip of St. Lucia to a huge villa. We had no idea we were getting a full house at this resort! Complete with its own infinity pool and secluded beach. Greg and I snorkeled almost every day on the vacation since the reefs were so beautiful. We saw schools of squid, an octopus, about 50 species of beautiful fish and numerous crabs, sea anemones and sea urchins. For someone who doesn’t like to put her head underwater, I became a veritable mermaid. I read four books on the trip, sailed a hobi cat and ate more fruit and fish than I have in a long time. It was an absolute wonderful way to celebrate the end of chemo and celebrate life. St. Lucia is the most beautiful of the Caribbean islands I’ve been fortunate to see so I encourage everyone to go. Of course, I can quote another friend of mine who saw our photos and said, “well, it’s okay, if you like tropical paradise…”