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***DISCLAIMER***
Ok, for those who read First Trip to Jamaica, I need to let you know now before you get your hopes up that this trip was NOT anywhere near as adventurous as the first. But it was just as memorable for me. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I’m not even sure there is a whole lot to write about, but since you’ve asked, here goes.
First day back to work
I make the drive in to work listening to the reggae CD I made after I returned. Don’t know why I feel the need to torture myself. I get to my desk and stare blankly at the computer screen before I turn it on. Someone stops by and says “Welcome back!! You have to tell me all about your trip”. She sits down and I vaguely talk about the beach, Dunn’s River, etc. She leaves, 10 minutes later. “Havn’t seen you in awhile. Were you away on vacation or something”? “Yep”. “Did you do anything special”? “Yep, went to Jamaica”. He sits down. “Jamaica??? I was there 3 years ago, stayed in Negril…….blah blah blah…..”. 20 minutes later. “Hey, you’re back!! How was your vacation”?? God please forgive me, I’m about to dropkick the next person who asks me how my vacation went. I manage to get through the day. Every fibre in my being really wants to call Paul, getting back to reality is really tough. I called him once on the day I got home which was exactly one week ago. I head to the nearest convenience store, buy a phone card and scope out a payphone. I scratch the phonecard to reveal the code, pickup the receiver and start dialing. My fingers are shaking because I so need to hear his voice. Ring. Ring. Ring. “Allo, goodnight”. It’s him. A wave of something that feels really good runs through me. “Hi, it’s me”. I say. “HIIII Baby!!! How come it took you so long to call me?? I don’t have a number for you and I thought you weren’t going to call me again”. That was my intention so I don’t know what I’m doing right now. We talk for a good hour reminiscing about all the things we did while I was there. A voice recording interrupts us and says “You have one minute remaining”. He says “You know I love you. I have never in my life fell for someone as fast as I did for you”. My heartaches to hear him say that but I cannot bring myself to tell him how I feel. I’m still trying to convince myself that this is over. We get our goodbyes in before the phone card disconnects us. I feel like an addict who has just got their fix and I feel a whole lot better. I pretty much zone out over the next few weeks. Every day I’m just killing time until I get a chance to speak to him again.
Around mid-December, I am sent to Raleigh for a few weeks on business. One morning on my way to work a song comes on the rental car’s radio that I’ve never heard before. It’s “Christmas in Jamaica” by Toni Braxton and Shaggy. I crank it up and listen. Shaggy belts out “You know when it comes to this Jamaican lovin’…” and I burst into tears. Oh, I’m feeling you Toni, I would do anything to have a Christmas in Jamaica. Christmas is about 3-4 days away so obviously that’s not possible. I have to sit in the car for a good 10 minutes before I get it together to go into work. By now we are talking almost daily. He tells me often “I can’t bear just hearing your voice, I need to see you again”. I daydream about it, but I wouldn’t have the nerve to go by myself. Besides, I can’t afford another plane ticket so soon. Where I live the regular cost is about $800 US for a flight to Montego Bay. You might be able to get it at $500 if you’re lucky and are watching for sales. After work I’d play around on the hotel’s community computer to look at rates out of North Carolina for fun. About 2 weeks before I was scheduled to return home to Canada, Hotwire brought up a fare of $325 including all taxes out of Charlotte. Oh my gosh!! That’s cheap, I would never be able to fly out that cheap from home. Problem is, my flight back home to Canada is out of Raleigh, and the Raleigh prices to Jamaica are expensive. I wonder if I’d be able to change my flight home out of Charlotte. I doubt I’ll be able to change the dates of my flight back ALONG with the departure city without a hefty charge. I call Northwest to find out. “Not a problem since you have a first class ticket”. The reservation agent tells me. “What’s the extra charge”? I ask. “There is no extra charge”. This is too good to be true! But what about my rental car? Would they let me drop it off in another city? I call Avis. “Not a problem”. And no extra charge. OK, this must be a sign from above. Do I chance going all by myself? I call Paul and tell him that I am “thinking about it”. He is thrilled. He says he needs to give work at least one week notice to take time off. That gives me one week to make up my mind. I stew on it, I don’t know why the decision is so difficult. I call Danielle from my hotel room a couple of days later (as she is the only one in the world that knows about Paul except for Olivia)and tell her I’m considering going back to see him. “Honestly, what do you think I should do”? “Do it”. She says. “If it was me, and I could leave, I’d be so gone”. “Thank-you Danielle”!!! That was the answer I was hoping for. Now everything is justified because I can blame it on Danielle if it turns out to be a bad decision. I hang up the phone with her, and still stew on it for a few more days. It’s now Thursday, and it’s now or never. Paul needs to let work know by tomorrow which means I need to let HIM know tonight. I go to the hotel’s computer and log onto hotwire. There it is, $325. I punch in my credit card info, address, etc. and stare at that continue button for a good 10 minutes. Inhale……select continue and hotwire does it’s thing. I am booked. No cancellations allowed. “AAAAGHH….I am going to Jamaica in 9 days”!!! I run upstairs to my room and call Paul to let him know. I think he is excited as I am. He says he has family members that own some hotels in Ochi and will try to get us a place to stay if there are vacancies. Otherwise, I’ll stay with him. He says “I can’t believe I’m going to see my baby one more time. You’re not going to want to leave this time”. I think about that, I didn’t want to leave the last time. I’ve been a walking zombie since I left. How am I going to get up and leave after spending 5 whole days and nights with him? On the other hand, what if it’s TOO much time together. I really only spent minimal time with him and now I’ll be practically living with the man. Maybe we’re not compatible at all and I just got caught up in the heat of the moment. What if he tires of me and kicks me out of his house. As if he can read my thoughts he says “Somethings wrong, I can tell”. I say “I’m just thinking you are probably going to be tired of me after spending so much time with you”. He says. “I may BE tired, but I’ll never get tired of you”. That makes me laugh. He’s got a quick comeback for everything I throw at him. We say our goodbyes and hangup.
[Post title edited to facilitate in archives filing]
Ok, for those who read First Trip to Jamaica, I need to let you know now before you get your hopes up that this trip was NOT anywhere near as adventurous as the first. But it was just as memorable for me. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I’m not even sure there is a whole lot to write about, but since you’ve asked, here goes.
First day back to work
I make the drive in to work listening to the reggae CD I made after I returned. Don’t know why I feel the need to torture myself. I get to my desk and stare blankly at the computer screen before I turn it on. Someone stops by and says “Welcome back!! You have to tell me all about your trip”. She sits down and I vaguely talk about the beach, Dunn’s River, etc. She leaves, 10 minutes later. “Havn’t seen you in awhile. Were you away on vacation or something”? “Yep”. “Did you do anything special”? “Yep, went to Jamaica”. He sits down. “Jamaica??? I was there 3 years ago, stayed in Negril…….blah blah blah…..”. 20 minutes later. “Hey, you’re back!! How was your vacation”?? God please forgive me, I’m about to dropkick the next person who asks me how my vacation went. I manage to get through the day. Every fibre in my being really wants to call Paul, getting back to reality is really tough. I called him once on the day I got home which was exactly one week ago. I head to the nearest convenience store, buy a phone card and scope out a payphone. I scratch the phonecard to reveal the code, pickup the receiver and start dialing. My fingers are shaking because I so need to hear his voice. Ring. Ring. Ring. “Allo, goodnight”. It’s him. A wave of something that feels really good runs through me. “Hi, it’s me”. I say. “HIIII Baby!!! How come it took you so long to call me?? I don’t have a number for you and I thought you weren’t going to call me again”. That was my intention so I don’t know what I’m doing right now. We talk for a good hour reminiscing about all the things we did while I was there. A voice recording interrupts us and says “You have one minute remaining”. He says “You know I love you. I have never in my life fell for someone as fast as I did for you”. My heartaches to hear him say that but I cannot bring myself to tell him how I feel. I’m still trying to convince myself that this is over. We get our goodbyes in before the phone card disconnects us. I feel like an addict who has just got their fix and I feel a whole lot better. I pretty much zone out over the next few weeks. Every day I’m just killing time until I get a chance to speak to him again.
Around mid-December, I am sent to Raleigh for a few weeks on business. One morning on my way to work a song comes on the rental car’s radio that I’ve never heard before. It’s “Christmas in Jamaica” by Toni Braxton and Shaggy. I crank it up and listen. Shaggy belts out “You know when it comes to this Jamaican lovin’…” and I burst into tears. Oh, I’m feeling you Toni, I would do anything to have a Christmas in Jamaica. Christmas is about 3-4 days away so obviously that’s not possible. I have to sit in the car for a good 10 minutes before I get it together to go into work. By now we are talking almost daily. He tells me often “I can’t bear just hearing your voice, I need to see you again”. I daydream about it, but I wouldn’t have the nerve to go by myself. Besides, I can’t afford another plane ticket so soon. Where I live the regular cost is about $800 US for a flight to Montego Bay. You might be able to get it at $500 if you’re lucky and are watching for sales. After work I’d play around on the hotel’s community computer to look at rates out of North Carolina for fun. About 2 weeks before I was scheduled to return home to Canada, Hotwire brought up a fare of $325 including all taxes out of Charlotte. Oh my gosh!! That’s cheap, I would never be able to fly out that cheap from home. Problem is, my flight back home to Canada is out of Raleigh, and the Raleigh prices to Jamaica are expensive. I wonder if I’d be able to change my flight home out of Charlotte. I doubt I’ll be able to change the dates of my flight back ALONG with the departure city without a hefty charge. I call Northwest to find out. “Not a problem since you have a first class ticket”. The reservation agent tells me. “What’s the extra charge”? I ask. “There is no extra charge”. This is too good to be true! But what about my rental car? Would they let me drop it off in another city? I call Avis. “Not a problem”. And no extra charge. OK, this must be a sign from above. Do I chance going all by myself? I call Paul and tell him that I am “thinking about it”. He is thrilled. He says he needs to give work at least one week notice to take time off. That gives me one week to make up my mind. I stew on it, I don’t know why the decision is so difficult. I call Danielle from my hotel room a couple of days later (as she is the only one in the world that knows about Paul except for Olivia)and tell her I’m considering going back to see him. “Honestly, what do you think I should do”? “Do it”. She says. “If it was me, and I could leave, I’d be so gone”. “Thank-you Danielle”!!! That was the answer I was hoping for. Now everything is justified because I can blame it on Danielle if it turns out to be a bad decision. I hang up the phone with her, and still stew on it for a few more days. It’s now Thursday, and it’s now or never. Paul needs to let work know by tomorrow which means I need to let HIM know tonight. I go to the hotel’s computer and log onto hotwire. There it is, $325. I punch in my credit card info, address, etc. and stare at that continue button for a good 10 minutes. Inhale……select continue and hotwire does it’s thing. I am booked. No cancellations allowed. “AAAAGHH….I am going to Jamaica in 9 days”!!! I run upstairs to my room and call Paul to let him know. I think he is excited as I am. He says he has family members that own some hotels in Ochi and will try to get us a place to stay if there are vacancies. Otherwise, I’ll stay with him. He says “I can’t believe I’m going to see my baby one more time. You’re not going to want to leave this time”. I think about that, I didn’t want to leave the last time. I’ve been a walking zombie since I left. How am I going to get up and leave after spending 5 whole days and nights with him? On the other hand, what if it’s TOO much time together. I really only spent minimal time with him and now I’ll be practically living with the man. Maybe we’re not compatible at all and I just got caught up in the heat of the moment. What if he tires of me and kicks me out of his house. As if he can read my thoughts he says “Somethings wrong, I can tell”. I say “I’m just thinking you are probably going to be tired of me after spending so much time with you”. He says. “I may BE tired, but I’ll never get tired of you”. That makes me laugh. He’s got a quick comeback for everything I throw at him. We say our goodbyes and hangup.
[Post title edited to facilitate in archives filing]
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