Happiness

Although I have only lived a short sixteen years to date, some of the happiest times of my life were spent on a small Island in the Bahamas. I was coerced by a few friends to go in an attempt to get service hours so that we could graduate. I was originally hesitant to go because 1. I never really liked beaches and 2. It would take all of my spring break, and I was not inclined to spend it doing volunteer work. After a while they finally convinced me and we would later depart for Andros island. The trip to Andros would take about 6 hours via bus and plain, which I expected to be hell but surprisingly, I enjoyed myself the whole way there, despite the crappy bus. After the bus ride, our traveling group would take a cramped plain out of Florida and into the Bahamas where we were greeted by an island covered in dense foliage. The island had a population of about 12,000 people so the island had grown unkempt, but still I admired the beautiful ocean and nature I was not accustomed to back home. Though the island had more trees than buildings, old roads still ran winding through the forests, which much to my discontent, we would travel on in an old minivan with no air conditioning. Although the minivan was small and hot, again I found myself enjoying myself regardless of my surroundings. Along with the minivan, the shacks where we slept were also a bit lack luster. The beds were uncomfortable, there was only one bathroom to accommodate 8 people in one shack, the floor was cold and unforgiving but still I was happy. It never really struck me why I was happy with the conditions I was stuck with until much later but no one ever really appreciates the good things they have until they're gone. I suppose the reason for my happiness was that I was surrounded by people made me laugh and cared about me. I spent most of my time doing what I loved, nothing. I slept in a lawn chair under the shade of a tree watching the sun go down into the ocean. The water that we drank was terrible but the food that we ate together was delicious. When we came back from a day out in the heat and had nothing to drink I remember that we walked to a general store just down the road and had a bottle of water and ice-cream. It was the first water I had tasted all week that didn't tasted like horse piss and the ice-cream almost brought me to tears with it's quenching powers. Even though the island was infested by biting horse-flies, I still loved every minute I spent on it. The days we all spent together laughing and relaxing triumphed over all of the discomforts I had in my daily life. Those almost surreal memories hang in my head as true moments of freedom. The satisfaction I received from the freedom of that island was one of the greatest experiences I've felt to date and wait for the day to find another place where I can laugh and relax with my friends.