To Absent Friends!

My grandmother passed away two days ago at the age of 101 after a long and fulfilling life. I've been thinking that in so many ways, she is the reason that I am here. 

She and my grandfather purchased a summer cottage on the shores of Buzzards Bay where I learned to sail as a gangly nine year old.  The love of the sea that spending summers there instilled in me was responsible for my signing on as crew on a 55 ft ketch in Boston Harbor soon after I got out of university. I spent almost a year living on that boat and sailing most of the islands in the Windwards and Leewards. On that trip, one of my favorite stops was Antigua so it was without much hesitation that I took the  job teaching here when it presented itself some 25 years later. 

Granny is also responsible for the friendly, outgoing and positive qualities that my family and I possess. These qualities have made it easy for me to establish myself in a new job, in a new country, with new friends. 

For all this and much more I am grateful for what she has given me. 

I will miss her dearly and will carry on the toast that I first heard at her table:

"To Absent Friends!"