Heaven

Today was absolute heaven. I could leave it at that, but that could make for a rather pointless post. Anyways, let's continue on.

My mom and I went on a run. We skipped the treadmill altogether and just went straight for the hot and humid outdoors. We figured out that if we run on every piece of sidewalk on the resort, it equals about a mile. And the looping begins. And the dripping.

At breakfast, they have this guy that walks around and plays the guitar and sings. Oh my word, he is amazing. I just love him. And he, like everyone else in this country, adores Benny. Which means that we got a bit of some special attention. He was trying to get Benny to like him, so he offered for Benny to play his guitar, and when that didn't work, he started to sing a little kid song to him. I wasn't actually there for this part, I was still eating. But apparently the song was called Yellow Bird, and Benny climbed up on the love seat with him and just listened. It was adorable, or so I hear. My mom and I got talking to him though, and he had a CD! We were thrilled, and we bought it. Oh, how I love it. And him.

We went to the Shoppes at Rose Hall--fancy schmancy. But first, we waited for the shuttle in the lobby for a bit. It's so pretty, and they have fresh flowers all over.

I just thought this was cool - the candle melting into the sand in the jar.

This was cool. They had a bowl with fish painted on it, then they put a bumpy bowl overtop, and it made it all textured.

The "shuttle" eventually came, and on we went. Fun stuff, those 15 passenger vans.



And drive on the left side of the road again.

Note the steering wheel on the right side.

And see km/h signs.


Just like on the hotel grounds, Benny made some fast friends at the shops. Or, people there wanted to be his friend, and they tried to convince him to let them.


We came back, and had lunch, and took Benny back to the hotel room for a nap. Turns out, all of us kids wanted a nap.


For some reason, Benny really wanted that pillow. I think he looks uncomfortable.

Here comes the best part of the whole day. I woke up to the sound of thunder. Clouds had been rolling in around lunchtime, but I thought they'd just pass like they have been the past few days. But no, not this time. This time, it started to drizzle, then it picked up to a normal rain, then it picked up to an outright downpour! Oh, it was marvelous. Us girls decided we'd go on a rain run, and I could hardly contain myself while I waited for everyone to change into running clothes. I was jumping and skipping and flailing my arms all about all over the hotel room, all while trying to keep quiet enough to not wake the slumbering Benny. Every now and again I'd stick my head out past the roof of the balcony and feel the drops, and eventually, we all ran down the hall barefoot to the elevator, got out, and booked it outside.

Look at that rainy goodness.

There were some MASSIVE puddles! And they were warm! And the drops were huge, and there were many of them falling from the sky! Oh, Jamaican rain is something to be adored and sought after. Never have I enjoyed such a rain as I enjoyed that one, running with my mom and sister through such big puddles may quite possibly be the fondest memory of this Jamaican experience. And besides, we provided a show for the fancy people hiding under roofs eating their meals--shows how much we fit into the 5-star community, huh? We must've been quite the sight, wet rats splashing in every puddle we came across, barefoot and running, giggling out of excitement. Classy. But I loved it, all the same.

Dinner was...interesting. Benny was in a squirmy mood. We let him down, and he decided to go to the other side of a glass door, press his face against it, and blow real hard.

What a wacko. I adore him. My mom decided she had better take him out and let him run around where he wouldn't be disruptive, but as she walked out, the hostess said, "Let me take Ben while you eat your dinner." (They all know him by name, and that we are the Whitings.) She was so sweet! She played with Benny and kept him occupied, and we got a quiet dinner. Holy cow, this place is something else. While we were waiting for our desserts, my dad went and relieved her of Benny, and we played around with him to keep him and ourselves occupied.

Turns out, he doesn't like lemons.

Then, the desserts came. It was like taking little bites of heaven. Delicious, specially made chocolate cake, filled with liquidy chocolate goodness, with some vanilla ice cream on the side, drizzled with delicious raspberry sauce. Oh, it was so good.

Then, as you cut into the cake, the "molten chocolate," as my dad called it, came out from within the cake.


I could die now, and have that be the last thing I ever ate and be perfectly content.

Lesson learned from today: respect. It seems no matter where we go, I hear women especially being addressed with the utmost respect. There are the "sirs" that are said, but it especially stands out to me that women are often addressed with "ma'am" or "miss" or the occasional "my lady." Maybe it's because I'm a girl, or maybe it's because it's less common, but whatever it is, I love it. I love the respect that is shown to and by everyone we come across. Day 4: Respect.