Way back in June Mark had bought me a plane ticket to Grand Cayman for our anniversary. The ticket was for a weekend in December, with the intention of giving me a break from the kids and some girl time with Brigitte and many of our other friends. As excited as I was I couldn't help but think that if I was going to Grand Cayman I should have Mark with me. As I began to grieve Brigitte's passing I knew that I wasn't going to face the memories alone and that we should all go as a family.
As short as our three day trip was it was truly a remarkable time. We had lived on Grand Cayman for five years and in some ways it felt as if we had never left. However there were definitely some remarkable changes to the island. The most poignant change was the Hyatt Regency. Hurricane Ivan had damaged much of the main part of the hotel and from what we understand a battle between the insurance company and hotel ownership has now left it to be an overgrown old building. As you look at the main hotel from a distance it looks the same as it always did...however as you get a closer look you see it is fully gutted and what was once the signature landscaping of the island is now just an overgrown jungle. Very sad. However the beach suite portion of the hotel was up and running and we enjoyed three nights with a wonderful view of Seven Mile Beach. We were privileged to encounter many of the old employees of the Hyatt-many wonderful souls who gave their heart to working for Hyatt. These employees had just found out that Hyatt was pulling out of Grand Cayman effective the end of the year. They will all most likely have jobs with the ownership who will run it as Grand Cayman Beach Suites, however there is a sense of pride in working for Hyatt and the standards of service that coincide. I think that is what truly was upsetting to the employees.
Despite the sad news of the Hyatt we had really a wonderful time catching up with many friends and their new additions of children and pets. We reminisced about old times and our 5 fabulous years on Cayman. I enjoyed early mornings with Noah watching the sunrise on Seven Mile Beach and was reminded about how much I love the beach. As plentiful as our trip was, we couldn't help but realize that there was one missing piece-our friend Brigitte Brown. We kept thinking she was just going to appear in our room going "Beddos!!". One of the highlights of our trip was getting to meet Bailey, the dog that Brigitte and her boyfriend Viv had adopted. He is a very well trained Jack Russell Terrier all the way from Ireland...Joshua and Noah had the best time playing with him.
As we tearfully said goodbye to Cayman and our many wonderful friends, we can only hope that it won't be another 5 years before we get back there.
Click on the above album to view a slideshow of our trip!
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