Where u at?

Where u at? where YOU at? I'm sittin at 21.801 degrees N latitude and 72.174 degrees W longitude, otherwise known as The Ocean Club West in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos. You really can't beat this place for sheer wow factor. That turquoise water is unbelievable. It almost didn't look real when we flew in here on Thursday morning. But then again, that was something a little out of the ordinary for me, to actually make a point to look out the window on the approach. Usually, I'm quite content to either keep sleeping or doing whatever I'm doing. This water was so clear and clean that I thought I might see fish swimming as we flew overhead.

It actually kind of energized me. I was pretty tired on the flight, so I caught a nice little nap on the quick flight over from Miami. It was a good thing too because I've been working pretty hard ever since. I was picked up from the airport around noon on Thursday and ended up working that night until after 10pm. On Friday and Saturday, I was in that office until about 6pm each day, and today, I didn't get off until about 3pm. This has been my view of paradise.



But, you can't keep a good brotha down. After that 3pm knock off, I had just enough time to make like Rocky and Apollo and run down the beach barefooted. It was a spirited little jaunt through the pristine white sand. Running on the beach is always interesting because you feel like you're running with one leg shorter than the other. The good thing is that if you're running up-an-back, it all balances out. I made sure to apply some sun screen (yeah, i know...crazy, huh? I never got a sunburn until I was about 30, and so I use the stuff now)and get properly hydrated before I got caught out there in this bright sunshine and humidity. Although, as humidity is so apt to do sometimes, it started to rain shortly after I took off down toward Club Med, it was a warm and comforting rain. It wasn't that Keith Sweat, go outside and cry in the rain kinda rain, it was more like that Soul For Real, candy-coated, Carl Thomas video type raindrops that just made you wanna smile and be out there. When it stopped, the air was still fresh and clean.

I ran for about 45 minutes and then enjoyed a proper cool down, out in the elements style. You can't really beat this kind of cool down, although the water is incredibly warm. It's almost bath tub warm! Your muscles cease to ache. Your mind ceases to ache, and you feel no pain. The ocean elixir that is the Caribbean Sea at Grace Bay soothes in a way that no man-made salve could ever hope to do. I actually ended up taking a nice little swim, drifting, dreaming, in the azure blue while gazing up at the sky, floating on my back. Life is good, even with the pitfalls of this project.