In the summer 1995 my best friend and I were deciding were we would spend our summer vacation the following year. We had decided that we would travel to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans and party for the fat Tuesday festivities. Well it turned out that she was going to Negril, JA with her mother for a week in October. When she returned she told me that we should change our travel plans and go to Jamaica for 10 days in

May. I totally trust her jugement and so agreed to go for the trip in May. I will never forget the view from the airplane as we were preparing to land in Montego Bay. It was a green lush site, surrounded by aqua blue water. I knew then I had arrived in paradise.

From the airport we had a 2 hour drive to Negril, the most beautiful journey I have ever been on. What an adventure, the bridge that takes you from the town of Lucea on to Negril had washed out from the rains the previous night, so there we were stuck. On this road we saw the natives walking home from school and work. As they passed our bus they would stop and talk. I recall young women (15-18 years old) dressed in uniforms coming up to the bus to speak to one of the porters. They were the most beautiful young women I had ever seen. Very lean, with clear skin and very white teeth. I remember asking them what they were studying in school there response was “Home Economics”. They were attending school to learn how to make beds and serve tourists. They were so happy to be given this opportunity. They spoke of graduating from the trade school and going to work at one of the big all-inclusive resorts. This in a way made me sad. I wondered to myself, is it because they are so poor that a job as a maid at a hotel serving white people was seen as exciting. These girls were so physically attractive any of them could have been next year’s super model, or a lawyer or a doctor. It really bothered me and made me think how lucky I was to have had the opportunity to chose any profession I wanted and pursued that goal to become the success I am today. My sisters in Jamaica, (at least those living in the country)didn’t have those options.

Well, we were stuck on that road in Lucea for about 2 hours, just before sundown, I notice the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life walking down the road.