My Tiny Rock

My husband fondly admired a brunette with long dark limbs on the familiar white sand of St. John. She wore aviator Raybans and her perfectly sculpted cheeks were kissed with just the right amount of sun. Her ringlets fell just past her bare shoulders and a white and tan polka-dotted silk tank clung to her body. Her shorts hit her tan legs mid thigh and moved with her every stride.

He complimented her. Really complimented her, like she was the one that got away. And 15 years later, she still looked as good and made him feel the same. She tilted her head with every flirtatious response.

She did look good. Great rather...and the stunning image before me was a flash from my past.

I stood on our beach blanket in turquoise Capri pants. The button had fallen off on our last warm weather trip and I hadn't had time to sew it back on. The waistband sagged, exposing my pasty white skin. I just watched.
They stood on the water's edge. He had his back to me.

"You really have kept it together," He swooned.
"I mean, so full of life. You, wow, you haven't changed."

She just kicked the soft coral with her bare feet as the breeze blew her hair and drew her top even closer, outlining two handfuls of soft breasts. The wind gave me a chill and I grabbed my cover up.
She shook the gold bangles on her delicate wrist. They seemed to catch a ray of sunshine that flickered on her face.
She was the furthest thing from cold.

Just wait until she has two of his children. I thought.

But girls like that never do. They hunt. And don't waste time building a den.
They still hitch rides on sailing yachts, sunning on the bow in their sequined bikinis, letting butter drip from their chins, throwing their heads back in laughter.
They are the simple ones.

Champagne and flowing skirts are their bills.
Flip-flops at the door and two wine glasses in their cupboard.
A Jeep that barely runs.
A career full of bar tabs and dinner specials.
But they are content.
Content in the greatest definition... to plunge into the cerulean Caribbean Sea without abandon letting the salty, silky water wash over them. And cleanse them of worry or want.

Settling down with the right guy, buying the perfect house, educating their children at acclaimed schools weren't even on their radar.

They share a gypsy spirit, a fighting sense of adventure, life filled with wonder, and the world at their fingertips chasing the horizon and soaking up the next best fun.

And here she was on this five mile island, putting down a tap root and being adored presently by my man.