My Aspie Files

Something happened to me during my Christmas Holiday: my Life was changed forever. I travelled with my family to the beautiful island of Jamaica for our first ever winter vacation in the sun. What I saw was nothing short of stunning. The scenery is incredible. The pace is much slower. The people are very nice. And very poor. The poorest that we had ever seen. When we drove up to our destination after a very long day, it was dark. The road was dirt and very whindy. I saw homeless children and families standing outside what they called their house. Poverty. Everywhere we looked. Scavenging for food. Walking around with machetes. Totally different from what I had ever seen, and will likely ever see again. When I woke up to the beauty of the island the next morning, I was somehow appeased. I met a new beautiful lady who was Jamaican and we quickly bonded. A kindred spirit in a foreign country. She explained many things to me and we chatted for hours. It was then that I learned that even though we had different realities, we were not so different after all. She has hopes. Dreams. Aspirations for the future . She has a family and works at making her home as comfortable as she can, with the circumstances that she has been dealt. I asked her if she would ever leave Jamaica to experience something else, and she told me : perhaps to visit – but never to live there. This is home. I love it here. And that hit home. Home is really where your heart is. The week progressed and we continued to spend time together and as we hugged on the last day after exchanging our addresses, we both had tears. I had come to enjoy the heat and the scenery, but left with something more precious: I had left with a new friend in my heart – one that would touch my soul in ways that I could never explain.
I am back home now. I am very relaxed and my family and I are slowly regaining our different pace of life. We left as a strong family – we came back even stronger and grateful for what the Universe allows us to enjoy everyday. I look at my Life in a very different way. I have made resolutions that will help others in small ways, because in the long run – that’s what matters… Having the best life possible with the conditions that you have been given. Helping others… Loving others… And never forgetting that even though we may be worlds apart, people are people no matter where you go: they live, they die, they laugh, they cry and most importantly – they love….
Have a Happy New Year ….. The days are long, but the years are short …. so love – love – love !