So, You Want to Live and Work in Vieques..
|
Back
Vieques- August 2010 NEW
Living and Working in Vieques..
Living And Working…..
I had decided to write a L&W piece (actually two articles) on Who Stays and Who Leaves...
Kind of interesting subject, especially now when it seems a lot of people i know who have been here around 20 years are thinking about going back to the States.
While I was thinking deeply and contemplating whether I wanted to leave Vieques also, I had a heart attack. Focuses one's attention like a laser. All those women's magazines I read while waiting for some Doctor came back to me in flashing letters - aspirin, immediately go to Emergency Room. I was in East Hampton visiting friends, and while it did take almost five hours to get me to a marvelous hospital called Stoney Brook, I was quite calm, fatalistic and proud I remembered the aspirin and recognized, without denial, that I was having a heart attack.
On the other hand, I was in a lot of pain (morphine wasn't working), I was worried about my children and their reaction (would they be hysterical enough, but not too hysterical?) wondering if life would ever be normal again and wishing the ambulance driver wore a shirt that didn't say "I've had the Big Bang".
People who want to leave have not failed here, their businesses are relatively successful, social life certainly. Ok, still enjoy beach, stars, water, horses, etc. So, how come? How come several are pretty close to leaving? I think of it as Vieques against The World. We are all in our 60's or 70's and in a way Vieques defeated us just like it defeats everything in it'd wake. It defeats hurricanes and restaurants, it defeats crime and crime fighting,
The ultimate victory of Vieques against everything is not always, at any moment in time, easy to recognize. For a time, years sometimes, one feels victorious against Vieques. One survives and prospers with the deprivations Vieques presents. We not only prospered but we were proud of the deprivations - we could manage well enough because we lived in paradise. And we did - do. A short ride, pull up to the beach and you are in heaven.
I survived the heart attack, three stents, still recuperating in New York and more on Why people leave....or stay...soon.
Sheila
The opinions expressed in this newsletter are the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Enchanted-Isle.Com.
GO to Archives [here]
Webmaster's Note * Sheila has many hats and is also a published author Her first book was "Simple Truths". She has asked that I put a short story she has written and I enjoyed it a lot, even though it has nothing to do with Vieques. You can download "Knowing" by right clicking on the link.
She is also the owner of Vieques Fine Properties.
Sheila can be reached for a brochure through her web page at http://www.viequesfineproperties.com