Coming back to the island after a trip to the US is always interesting, as it's always new again, even if for just a day or two.  I've been in the Boston area for almost two weeks and have been in non-stop meetings, presentations and dinners, including having to get woken up each morning by an alarm clock.

This morning, I was woken up by a hermit crab.
Yes, I love living here.
Apparently when the kids were collecting hermit crabs last week, they let one loose in the bedroom, which was climbing up my patio door this morning, thereby waking me up with the unfamiliar "clank, clank" of the hermit crab shell hitting the door frame.



So in honor of Anguilla being 'new' again, here my list of favorite things about coming home:

1. Getting attacked by four little hugging, kissing monsters with eyes lit up bright, as soon as I walk in the door screaming "Momeeee" (Caribbean for "Mommy")
   
2. Getting enveloped by that familiar mugginess, as soon as you walk out on the runway at the Anguilla airport
3. Waking up, turning my head and seeing the most amazing colors out of the patio doors - blue, aqua, green and white
   
4. Getting to go in the "Locals" line at customs and hearing the agents say "welcome back"
5. Feeling my internal speedometer slow down ever so slightly, each day, thereby putting any ongoing problems into a much better perspective
   
6. Getting in the car on the 'wrong' side and getting confused by driving on the left - again (for about 2 minutes)
7. Realizing that the incredibly difficult work of living here is once again beginning, but that somehow, we'll all be better off because of it