Things that Can Wait

There are lots of times in Grenada when things come up that I would normally take care of pretty quickly, but because I am stranded here with few resources, must put off until we return to the States. Below I have listed a few such things.


// Engagement ring adjustments. Normally the only "adjustment" I make to my engagement ring is to take it in for a nice cleaning every few months. However, three or four days ago my engagement ring inexplicably cracked. Yes, cracked. This is especially strange, since it is only ever on my finger or on my jewelry box. It cracked right along the line where it was fitted down a size right before we got married. Maybe it's a temperature thing? Who knows, man. Surprisingly (haha, not), there's no legit place to get this fixed on the island, so it will have to wait a few months. In the meantime, I have some replacement rings I can wear around.

^^You can kind of see the crack at the bottom of the ring.

^^I love these layering rings that I picked up from Forever XXI over the summer. They're real cheap though and stain my fingers green, so I only wear them occasionally.

^^This beautiful pearl heirloom was given to me by my mom just before I graduated from high school, and it was given to her by her mom, and actually, I don't know the full story behind it. It's really special to me though, so I think I'll wear it on Sundays until my engagement ring's fixed.

^^I'll miss wearing this thing around. Also noteworthy, I did not paint my nails just for these pictures. It just so happened that the one time all year I decided to be adventurous with my nails was the exact day my ring cracked on me. Go figure.

// Babies. Oh, babies. If we were living in the States, we'd probably be trying for a baby by now. We're pretty baby hungry, plus Jared's kind of getting to be an old fart (kidding! he's only 27). The fact is, if we were to have a baby during our time in Grenada, I'd have to pick between having it natural (no epidurals here) in a third-world hospital room with very little help and no NICU, or else flying home to have it in the States and having Jared Skype in from the island for the birth (assuming I didn't go into labor during one of his many long tests), and then missing out on the first few months of baby's life. I have lots of friends here who have done one of the above and it worked out for them, but I am not ready to make that kind of decision at this point, and neither is Jared. Oh well--babies can wait a bit longer!

// Storing my toothbrush by the sink. I could do that here, but our bathroom remains at a constant state of 90% humidity, and that kind of grosses me out. Other things that gross me out include ants in my toothbrush and cockroaches on my toothbrush, both of which would be likely to happen if I left my toothbrush by the bathroom sink.

// Good snacks. The snacks available to us in Grenada are either really expensive (we're talking a US dollar an apple), or else kind of unsatisfying and completely unhealthy. We've made a habit of waiting until we can make a trip to America, and then loading up our suitcases with hundreds of dollars worth of snacks from Costco and Walmart. Worth it. Every time. Bless you, Costco.

// Doctor visits. Dentist visits, too. Have any sort of non-generic doctor need? Need to have a strange lump on your scalp looked at or get your bladder checked out or see a food allergist (all of which have happened to me since moving here)? There's a specialist for that! Just not in Grenada. (Actually, there are probably several specialists who teach at the med school, but they're inaccessible and/or not covered by my insurance.) Medical urgencies can wait.

// Road trips. I take that back--we went on a road trip here once. It lasted two hours and took us in a complete circle back to where we started. And yet somehow, tons of the locals here have never seen the opposite side of the island. It's a weird thing when the only big world you've ever known is some 22 miles long and 12 miles wide, and you've only ever explored a small section of it. It's a mind-boggling thing to see the world as these people see it. Maybe I'll do a full post on that sometime. But for now, spontaneous drive-for-hours road trips can wait.

// Broiling cinnamon toast. Broiling anything, really. Broiling is not an option in the island ovens, but that's ok! I'll make up for lost time wherever we end up next and make cinnamon toasts and patty melts three times a day. Broiling, my friends, can wait.

// Exercise. Exercise doesn't have to wait. But it can. And it will. I used to go for a nice long run every morning, but that kind of started to destroy my knees, so I'm going to give them a few years off. Jared and I really want to get into biking, but alas, bikes here are used and expensive and we'd have to sell them in a few months, plus the roads here are turrible for biking. Biking can wait.

// Other things that can wait: retail therapy, fast food, comfortable furniture, eating meat that is not chicken, getting a puppy, camping trips, and wearing my hair down.