I know this might sound crazy, and I would like to preface what I am about to share by saying this was my first time! I saw a tarot card reader in New Hope, Pennsylvania and it was so dope!

Do you ever have those moments when you feel anxious because there is a whole world out there and sitting in one spot seems like torture? This is me. And while I have found my home in Jamaica, there is still an itch to see other parts of the world. In some ways I think I am a pirate, mermaid, nomad human.

It all started living on Jacksonville Beach, where everything was perfect and right. I met a Jamaican at a bar when I was out with my mom, son, and his wife for mothers Day. It was also the first time in my life that I left my phone number on a receipt at a bar. He was a sexy thang and the accent made me succumb to my weakness for foreign accents.

About 4 months before the Mother’s Day event, I was visiting friends in the northeast, and this is when I had the pleasure of meeting the tarot card reader, an Italian man, who had just lost his mother, so her picture perched perfectly above his seat in his quaint space in the streets of beautiful, picturesque New Hope, PA (Pennsylvania).

He shared the story of his great, late-mother, how much he loved and admired her, and all that he had learned from her in his precarious business. He told me things about my life and decisions I would be making that not many knew about and certainly not him. (To my christian brothers and sisters – I realize this may be disconcerting to you, but I assure you, I am certain of who my maker is, there is no doubt about that!).

My work BFF and me left elated that I had the same experience she had a few months prior hence sharing her good fortunes with me that led to our adventure from New Jersey to New Hope. We had a blast! And I felt clearer than ever that I was going to Jamaica.

This land is very different, culturally and socially. I love the refreshing view of the simplicity of life. I love eating from the land, literally. I love the Jamaican spirit. And there are things I don’t love – like the classicism, and elitism which squeeze the very life out of the same spirit that makes this country so beautiful. But until we see heaven, there is no perfect land. I digress.

There is so much to explore on this island but for this next year, Jamaica will be called home for me while I write this book and find places of healing in both my body and mind.