Arrived in Cancun (Puerto Morelos) last Saturday to begin our winter migration to warm weather. I should be excited to have beaten the snow, now swimming in blue pools and the gray-green ocean, indulging in pink and yellow and blue frothy cocktails, and smiling and exuberantly talking to other vacationers at the resort. All I want to do, though, is sit in my room or lay on my bed and wait to hear some positive news regarding a little 3 year-old who holds my heart in his big brown eyes. Palm trees, ocean waves, and all-you-can-eat-and-drink resorts are meaningless when all your thoughts, fears and hopes are elsewhere.
A friend at the resort mentioned just the other day how so many people here do not look happy, whether sitting at a table, consuming an excellent meal, or laying in a lounge chair beside a heated pool with a pina colada in their hand. Not the young families – as they push strollers and carry five-foot blow-up unicorns to the pool – they are laughing and enjoying the delights of their children (when they aren’t laughingly grumbling about all the work involved). There is a family jacuzzi right below our balcony and the laughter and antics of children playing there does bring out my smiles.
No, it is too many of the older people who have lost their joy, the couples and singles who are here alone. Yes, they are sitting in a tropical paradise instead of snow, living in a dream with someone else responsible for cooking and cleaning. Yet, what is missing from that perfect life that results in frowns and slumped shoulders on too many of those sitting at the bar or around the pool?
Maybe they have not been able to see family members for months due to COVID. Maybe they have a child or grandchild struggling with drug addiction. Maybe a loved one is struggling with mental issues. Maybe they have lost the person who gave them joy. Life deals out struggles with no regard to whether you have traveled to an imagined paradise or are back in your snowbound home.
Right now, I understand how hard it is to smile when your heart is with loved ones many miles away, with loved ones whose problems you want to straighten out and fix, whom you want to be as happy and laughing and carefree as the children in the jacuzzi.
Grandma's Travels and Thoughts 