Tuesday, March 20th

I’ve been watching a lot of Six Feet Under lately, which I’m sure sounds like a perfect complement to a Caribbean cruise. As the name implies, Six Feet Under is a show centering on the Fishers’ who own a funeral home. So, yeah, there’s a lot of death. But, like all smart writing, both sides of the story are told, and in the end, although we can’t escape the inevitable, it always seems like the living win. Because they have the ultimate advantage – life.

One of my favorite scenes from the series involves the long dead Father Fisher coming to talk to his son, who is in a bit of a paralysis in regard to his life choices. Mr. Fisher simply says, “You can do whatever you want, you lucky Bastard! You’re alive!”

Today I walked around Old San Juan on a beautiful path by the ocean and the old forts. San Juan used to have a horrible problem with stray cats, and these women began taking care of them, spaying and neutering them, giving them food, and finding them homes. These cats live in the rocks that sit by the ocean. It really is a surreal scene – these majestic, almost archaic forts protecting this rocky beach, waves crashing up against the sand, and literally everywhere are these little, sweet cats, poking out from the black rocks. It seems like they shouldn’t necessarily be there, but the place wouldn’t be as magical if they weren’t.

These experiences have been making me feel quite lucky lately. Quite lucky to…well…Be.