Every January I take a vacation away from the gray, biting cold of New York. Last year I went to Mexico, the year before that it was the Bahamas, this year I am in Barbados, the home of my ancestors, the first caribbean island I ever set foot on and the place where I realized I was pregnant with my daughter.
Barbados holds a lot of signifigance for me. I love it here. Once, a very, very long time ago I fell in love and seriously considered moving to this Caribbean jewel to start a new life. But alas, it was not to be. Some of the best times of my life have occured here. Once while "liming" at Bomabas beach bar, Julian Lennon bummed a cigarette from me!
At one point I traveled to Barbados so often that the flight attendants/immigration/customs people all knew me by name. I'm going way back, way back to the time when you could still smoke on airplanes...remember that?
Well once I was in first class cabin with Gregory Hines who was traveling with his family which included his father, his second wife and her daughter and his daughter Daria Hines. Daria had packed her cigarettes in her suitcase, but I had mine so we ended up sitting together for the entire flight, smoking, drinking and laughing. The senior Hines invited me over to their villa for dinner. I never made it. Looking back I don't know why I didnt make the effort.
Aaaaah, Barbados, my little island in the sun has changed. Condos are popping up like palm trees up and down the west coast. From where I sit here on the verandah of I can cast my eye on a building where the apartments are going for 3.5 million US dollars. The road that runs in front of the house is called Highway #1 and it is traveled by Beemers,Benzes and Rovers.
When I first came here there were few cars, and the ones people did own were circa 1950.
Once in the infamous Coach House where I crowded in with hundreds of people every Thursday night to witness the rise of the legendery soca group Square One, I bumped hips with Roberta Flack who was a frequent visitor to Barbados, she like many of "us" frequent female visitors had a man here...LOL...her man was known as the Cocount Man...becuase he sold Coconut Water on the side of the road. Till this day I don't know what she saw in him, but who am I to judge. As the Jamaican's say: "Every hoe has its sticka bush!"
Aaaaaah, Barbados!
Oprah has experienced the euphoria and she has property in beautfiul St. Lucy. She's not the first, celebrities abound here.
The other day Barbados experienced something it had never seen in its history of receiving cruise ships. Seven ships...count them SEVEN ships arrived in the harbor. I sat on the verandah and watched as one taxi van after the other deposited and then collected the cruise ship passengers. Did I fail to mention that I am right across the road from one of the most beautiful beaches on the island...and maybe in the world? Yes, this is Paradise....
Paynes Bay Pentecostal Church is across the courtyard from the house. As I sit here typing away dressed in my favorite tangerine colored swimsuit and floral beach wrap, I can hear the preacher praying for Obama and his family...the congregation is signifiying.....the birds are singing, the breeze is blowing and the sun is shining...quick open your dictionary, look up perfection, you'll see this scene pictured beside it...
I am dreading my return to reality. I do not like the cold. I am a sun child. A beach girl, a flip-flop and bathing suit chica. IF you cut me, you won't see blood, you'll only see blue water and palm trees. Yeah, it's deep like that.
Bernice L. McFadden
