Tropical Depression

While we are only a few hundred miles off the coast of the continental United States, I think the hardest part for people to grasp about our lives down here is the distance we feel from the people we love.

Yes we are only a phone call away. And believe me - I'm thankful we have that. But the impact of certain transgressions that most would call part of life have an amplified effect when for us it is relayed through a cell phone tower.

Thanksgiving turkeys are carved. Christmas presents are shared. Birthdays are celebrated. We pass on our cheers in a five minute phone call.

People get engaged and married. They have babies. Houses are built and homes are established. We share our congratulations through a text message.

Couples break up. People get sick. Loved ones pass. We offer our wholehearted but half-felt condolences and it absolutely kills us that we can't be there to do it in person.

While we may live in paradise, we suffer the consequences by not having the ability to be with the ones that we love when they need us the most. Or even when its not that serious - sometimes its just a trip to the bar or a family dinner that we are missing, but in truth we are missing so much more than that.

Today Kiersten was informed that her dog Riley was hit by a drunk driver back in New York. She was absolutely broken down and devastated, as she should be, but immediately (as we've seen with a number of tragedies that have befallen us) there was an onslaught of people acting as her support structure - poised and ready to help her in any way, shape or form possible. Suddenly its evident that while we may not be close in proximity to our nuclear families, we have a strong group that makes up our island family to help take care of us.

That is the reason I am so thankful to have the cast and crew of my life that I do down here in the Virgin Islands. That inevitable moment that pulls the carpet from neath my feet has not yet struck me, but I can rest assured that when it does "the faces on the wall" and I will get through it together.

P.S. I miss and love my family and friends back up north. Get yourselves down here to visit me pronto.