Looking back at 2019 brings a lot of happy words to mind: hot, breezy, sunny, serene, calm, soft, laughter, sharing, visiting, enjoy, renew, rest, and …best word of all…recharge!
I smile as I write thinking of all the fun we had on island during our visits last year! We had such a banner year in number of guest rentals, projects completed, gorgeous weather, and of course, general enjoyment of the blessings of our little island and its’ close knit community. We achieved some more goals for our house: installed a new washer & dryer and new stainless kitchen appliances, changed a few soft furnishings aaand painted the entire exterior…by ourselves! We love the evolving look of our charming little house and enjoy cooking up the next great idea! Don & I once again made October ‘our time’ and oh what a stay it was! Instead of running away from a monster hurricane we got to spend every minute actually on the island. We squeezed in the fall Art Splash art tour with wine tasting followed by the Pink Out charity event at Paddy’s. The October full moon was stunning and the beach days were beautiful.
2020 started with a guest new to SGI and how fun to ‘share’ her stay from afar! Her messages from SGI made it pretty clear she was falling in love with the island; she almost made it back home before committing to another visit! Winter weather was making everyone long for summer vacay and as our January/February routine, guests started to contact us to book their spring/summer/fall stays. We were looking at another fun year while making plans to change out the west bedroom queen bed to a king, and …
BAM!!! COVID…
Our year turned upside down in a few short days. Uncertainty became the norm followed closely by fear. One by one our guests cancelled, our planning stopped, and our world closed in. March, April, and May were the strangest, most trying times we have struggled through yet! Don & I thank the Good Lord that we have not (yet) been personally challenged by illness or financial hardship. The safety & security of our guests and our island friends being paramount, we fully refunded our paid guests then shut down rentals completely. We were glad we did because shortly after that Florida instituted a full rental ban. We all had so many confusing messages. There were so many fears. We continue to have so much to deal with emotionally… (As of this writing I also have civic unrest on my mind. Urban areas are very much involved in the management of yet another crisis.)
As a healthcare worker I needed my spring trip to the island for a mental break and our house needed some routine maintenance as well! We had cancelled our April trip, but then made the decision to travel to SGI in May for some “self quarantine” and R&R. Although many disagreed with us that travel was a good idea, what a grand choice that was! We did a thorough cleaning and Don completed a couple of simple projects. The beaches had been closed on our arrival, but then opened for am and pm exercise a few days later. Much to our delight they were fully opened for the last week of our trip! Local venues that had struggled during the full shut down were thrilled to open back up, even though it was with limitations. Our departure day on May 18 was beautiful…the skies were electric blue and the water’s edge had that gorgeous greenish cast I so love! Our local venues for eating and shopping were back in business and most of our island friends are very thankful for a return to some sort of normalcy. One more trip over the bridge north had me in tears, but Don & I discussed how thankful we were for our trip; the reconnection with friends and the opportunity to support our local businesses.
I’m not sure how the rest of 2020 is going to pan out, but I know this for sure: I am so very thankful for our blessings and that our sweet SunCatcher of SGI on charming St George Island remains a wonderful place to recharge the soul…
