40 - feeling comfortable in your own skin and swimming with pigs

Hey Friends!

It's been another exciting month - a joint boat birthday party with my buddy Barrett, getting rear-ended in the new (to us) vehicle, and actually turning the big 4-Oh on a boat in the Bahamas!

My buddy Barrett turned 40 a few weeks before me, so we decided upon a joint birthday party, given that we share the same set of incredible friends. My island bestie, Andrea, planned it for us and it was a super fun day! One of my favourite things about the party was that my sister was on island. I love having Kayla here and it was so special that she could be here for my birthday party! The other favourite part of the party was the giant "40" board that Andrea created using my and Barrett's pics from our childhoods. Barrett and I could have been brother and sister, given our dorky blonde bowl cuts and similar frame. We had a fabulous day with super fun peeps, swimming with the famous Cayman stingrays (I kissed one for good luck), drinking champagne in a floating pineapple, and jumping from the top deck of our boat. I even danced on my shitty knees, and although they protested the next day, it was well worth it! At one point, a giant yacht pulled up next to our little rental and I peered over to observe what looked like the Biggy and Puff "Hypnotize" video (I am totally aging myself here!) There were beautiful big bootied girls posing on the helm while large dudes in thick gold chains cooly observed their harem. The back "hatch" of the yacht opened to reveal a fleet of jet skis. It looked pretty incredible. I glanced back at our group who were devouring Doritos and Popeyes chicken whilst shooting Patron from a bottle, and laughing hysterically on an oversized pineapple floaty and thought, "These are my people!" Haha. What a great feeling to celebrate in a beautiful place with people who "get" you. Cheers to being comfortable in your own skin. I think that's what 40 is all about!

It took me a few days week to recover from the birthday festivities and just as I was starting to feel like the party fog had lifted, I got rear-ended at work one day. I was stopped, signalling to turn right and a young kid barrelled into me at rocket speed. Luckily our vehicle is a big mother, and only sustained a large dent, while the kid's vehicle was smoking and leaking, and unable to drive away. I thought that I was fine, but I must have sustained a little whiplash because my head and neck hurt for the next few days, which was unfortunate because Ev and I had planned a long weekend to the Bahamas to celebrate my "real" 40th.

The trip to the Bahamas is pretty easy from Cayman. There is a direct flight that stops in Nassau on it's way to London, so we were able to reach Nassau in about an hour. From there, we caught a small plane to Great Exuma Island - you know, where the Fyre Festival didn't happen? We arrived on Exuma on the morning of Good Friday. I was a cranky. My head was pounding and my neck hurt, and I honestly just wanted to sip a pina colada under a palm tree; however, we were immediately greeted by signage all over Great Exuma stating that Good Friday was a "dry" day until 6pm. Now I'm not saying that you need booze to have a good time. In fact, I  have a pretty strict rule on Cayman - I only drink alcohol on the weekends. It's a slippery slope people, especially on a tropical island where everyday can feel like a Saturday! But...I was on holidays. We had 3 days to celebrate our vacay, and I knew that with another surgery looming in the near future, I would be out of commission for about a month. I wanted to thoroughly enjoy my holiday, dammit! We tried sweet talking the bartender, searching for suspicious looking locals who might bootleg us booze, but no luck. This 6pm thing was legit. Needless to say, by 5:58pm Ev and I were saddled up to the bar, waiting for our first holiday cocktail!

I can see for miles and miles...and not a pina colada in sight!

The Bahamas are beautiful islands - comprised of over 700 islands. The water is the most impressive combo of turquoise and aquamarine blues you have ever seen! The Exumas are home to the famous swimming pigs, and although our tour was initially cancelled due to weather, we were able to get out at the end of the day and hang with the piggies. The pigs are very cool - a combination of a giant dog and a bear, the largest ones were huge - weighing more than 300 pounds. Like little puppies, when your boat pulls up to their island, they lumber into the water, and place their giant hooves on your boat deck, begging for some snacks. There were more than 20 baby piglets as well and the massive sow wasn't bothered if you picked up her babies and gave them a snuggle. I loved this island, laughing nervously the entire time, and placing my empty hands in the air when the pigs chased me for more food.

There were a few others people on our tour. Although, I wouldn't really say that they were "on" our tour, due to the fact that they spent the majority of their time trying to capture the perfect selfie, snapchat, or insta story. I'm guilty of posting on social media - probably over-posting at times - but this was next level! It was apparent that the goal of their "tour" was to capture the perfect pic/vid and then immediately get back to the boat to wait for the next photo op stop on the trip. There was NO participation in the tour. I understand politely asking someone to take a picture of you, but they were requesting snapchat videos and 20+poses! Yes, I took a few videos and pictures, but I did put down my phone and  hung out with the pigs for about an hour without actually documenting it (gasp!). Ev and I couldn't believe that our fellow tourists were so obsessed with their devices that they were missing the experience. Shame! Shame! (again, aging myself!)

Even the pig thinks this is hilarious!

The last day of our Bahamas experience was perfect. It was my actual birthday and the sun was back out, the water crystal clear. Ev and I rented a little 17 foot boat to island hop on our own. We packed a cooler and spent the day exploring our own private islands, cruising amongst beautiful yachts and catamarans, and stopping in at little island bars where we met some really interesting people who spend their days sailing the world. We did misjudge low tide just a bit and ran into a sandbar, but Ev got out in the ankle high water and pulled our boat  into deeper waters. Haha! oops. Overall, it was an incredible day!

found a conch shell

beauty day with my bud!

Now that we're back in Cayman, it's suddenly dawned on me that I undergo my 11th knee surgery in less than a week. We fly out to Philly today, and although I think Philadelphia is a really great city, it definitely reminds of pain and puking - two things that I am not looking forward to at all! Typically I try to prepare for surgery, meditating more and strategizing how I will cope with the pain, but I kinda said "eff it" this time around. My plan is to show up and let my trusty surgeon take over. I'm hopeful that my cartilage man can determine why my knee is locking. I'm crossing my fingers that it's an easy fix, and not an indication that my cartilage implants are failing. My trusty Mom and my buddy Ev will be there to support me, which always helps. So...here I go again!

Cheers friends!