For 59 years, there was a proverbial hole in Jackie Nelson’s bucket (list). Travel was set aside to care for others: her child, her students, her aging parents, her church. Last summer, however, a lifelong friend inspired Jackie to board a plane and head to Los Angeles with their daughters–a move that opened up her world.
So when Daphne Dunston-Wharton, that same friend of 36 years who inspired her the summer before, pitched the idea of celebrating her birthday retracing India Arie’s song God is Real, Jackie was all aboard for the celebration. Originally, Daphne had invited ten of her closest friends, but due to work and finances and the obstacles of life, all of them backed out–aside from Jackie.
“Daphne wanted to do something big for her 60th,” Jackie explains of her best friend. “We’ve been through everything together over the years: marriages, divorces, deaths, births, the whole gamut. We are both Taurus and the perfect travel partners; we aren’t agenda people, we go with the flow and like spontaneity.”
Despite the fact that midyear foreign travel and cost were out of Jackie’s comfort zone, she knew she had to join her friend on this monumental occasion. They were joined by Daphne’s aunt, the travel agent that planned the trip, and Daphne’s sister–two Taurus and a pair of Libras–representing the span of four decades.
“We had four decades represented in our group–70s, 60s, 50s, and 40s,” Jackie says with a laugh. “The wildest one was the 70 year old!”
On the island, Daphne wanted to live the lyrics of her favorite song:
In Saint Lucia, I jumped in the water
For the first time I understood its power.
As I swam, I was cleansed.
If I had any doubts, this experience cleared them.
Now I know for sure that God is real.
I know that it’s the truth by the way it feels
Cause I saw starfish and sponges,
Fish and black trumpets,
So many different colors I stayed
Out there for hours and I only saw a fraction of a fraction,
Of the deep of the deep
Of the great blue wide.
It brought a tear to my eye.
All of which was easy to do on this island nestled in the West Indies, just northwest of Barbados. Saint Lucia is now home to resorts, coral reef diving, fishing villages, rain forests, banana plantations, two tapered mountains, and waterfalls. Historically, the island was inhabited by two indigenous tribes, then fought over 14 times by French and British colonizers–that is how it earned its sobriquet, Helen of the West. Its actual name, Saint Lucia, is one of only two sovereign states in the world named after a woman–perfect setting for an epic girls trip.
Jackie was immediately taken by the island’s scenery–the birds at the resort each morning, the “little sounds” of the wildlife surrounding her. She was taken aback, however, by the resort’s inclusion of a personal butler.
“When you are accustomed to serving others…” Jackie trailed off listing her roles of service through the years at church, in catering, in her teaching career, within her family. “I just couldn’t get used to the services of Mr. Darnel and Mr. Augustus. The Libras had no problem ordering from the butlers, though! We would get a text every morning asking if we needed anything.”
The butlers were crucial, however, in organizing their catamaran excursion that took them around the island, on a snorkeling trip, and to a natural sulphur spring where the ladies lavished in a mud bath at the foot of a volcano.
“Our skin felt amazing after the mud bath, like we’d found the fountain of youth.”
On the snorkeling trip, Daphne and others went in search of their trumpetfish and sponges, but Jackie sat that one out. “I thought I was going to be brave, but once I put the mask on, the shallow breaths and sweating started.”
(There’s always next time, Jackie.)
At lunch, they feasted on the local cuisine: rice and peas, fish, brown stew chicken, yams, pork and beans, macaroni pie, and plantains. The national dish of Saint Lucia is green figs and saltfish, a dish inspired by African slaves, made from salted cod and unripe bananas (known locally as “figs”). After lunch, on the way back on the catamaran, that is when the rum punch came out and the party began.
“I could have sat at the resort in the cabana all five days. It was so relaxing, no pressure, just perfect. At the beach, under the cabana, the staff would ask, ‘All is well?’ and you would reply ‘All is well’ back to them. The hotel had several restaurants, shows, and even a club,” Jackie explains of her first experience with an all-inclusive resort. “I couldn’t get used to there being no prices on the menu.”
Mostly, Jackie enjoyed the camaraderie of her sister-clan, the beauty and pace of island life, and checking off experiences from a bucket list that never was. Would she return? Without a doubt.
I’ve taught with Jackie for years now and have loved witnessing this transition from a semi-workaholic woman to a worldly one. When she came back to school from her trip to Saint Lucia, she was changed, as travel is known to do to you. She already has plans for her next trip to Jamaica this summer–so in one year Jackie Nelson has gone from never taking a vacation in her lifetime to taking three.
“Do you have a bucket list?” she asked me as our interview was winding down.
“Of course! I keep it on my refrigerator to look at when I am feeling bored or blue,” I said.
“To see my passport stamped for the 1st time made me wonder where else can I go? Someone asked me where I would want to go to fill it up and it made me a little sad; I never thought about it. No bucket list, well, that’s my homework.”
That night, Jackie texted me: I made my bucket list.
All is well, Jackie, all is well.
By Megan M. Seckman
P.S. You may also like this spa for your next girls trip.
Leave a Reply