This is the last day of my vacation and I find myself feeling thoughtful as I prepare to return to the States.

Traveling has a tendency to put things into perspective for me.

 Days before I arrived here, I was in a mad, frenetic, nearly panicked state preparing for an event.  It got even worst at the event!

Printing, final edits, issues with the display wall, the hunt for solutions for the display wall that we could find at a store open at 8am on a Saturday… it all seems so far away now.

Here in my friend’s community in St. Lucia, people sit outside and watch the cars go by.  They wave to passers by.  They know each other.  Few phones are in evidence when people are together and the pace is slow and relaxed.  

I can’t dash off to the store for more gesso or another color or even a canvas! That would be a planned adventure and much harder to budget for since such items are imported. This is a place to decompress.

I’m looking forward to capturing some of this feeling in my art over the next few months… but, I’m going to take my time! 🙂

So, what’s my point?  What has this trip taught me?

I might be figuring that out for a while but for now I’ll just say that our constantly distracted, always hustling, go go go culture isn’t a universal experience and, at least from time to time, we can choose to reject it.