Just got back from a week on the Mainland....

Welcome back! You'll find when you live here for a long time, it's definitely nice to have a stateside fix ............and shop!

and i have not had that for years. i just want to go into a quilt store and touch the fabric and look through the books

Yes, appreciate your loving to be back. But as they others said, you'll look forward to the real world every now and again although I call it the land of excess! Too many choices when you shop.

Sorry Ronnie. I would love to be overwhelmed by too many choices when shopping since I am currently underwhelmed at all times with the choices and varieties we get presented with, daily. Ahhhhhh! An actual extremely clean grocery store with multiple choices of fresh veggies and fruit that you can actually smell without inserting it in your nose (and even then they have no smell - peaches, for one!!!) checking out other goodies and all the products we never get to see. At 1/4 of the prices we pay! When I am in the states, I just love going to the grocery store to torture myself at what we are deprived of (and to bring some goodies back) and be aghast at the cheap prices they pay (FL).;)

The first time I got off island after moving down was a short trip to PR for a concert. When got back, I felt a great sense of relief. Grabbed a beer at a gas station, took the long way home, listened to music, not a care in the world.

First time I ever really felt 'home' was on STX. On STT now, its definitely an adjustment, but I'm liking it 🙂

I agree with Ronnie and Alana at the same time.
When I go to the states I'm go into sensory overload; especially at malls, large stores, and while driving-not used to such rude drivers, even though we have our fair share of them on Stt.
I do love some of the stateside grocery stores with the multiple choices-including products can't find on island that I stuff in my suitcases, the less expensive prices, and better quality produce-to eat while there. But some stores I get confused with such a vast amount of choices.
It is a break from being on island, but I can't wait until the date I board the plane that takes me back home to STT.

Welcome back 🙂

So, basically, living in the VI makes you stupid and overwhelmed?

"Paradise Induced Mental Retardation" as per Chrissann/Women Who Live On Rocks blog.

I see numerous cases, myself.

Yeah I have to chime in here; I was at the end of my rope when I left STT after living there for ten years. I had a case of "Rock Fever". I do now realize I could not live there again, and that has very little to do with the crime there. I simply can't keep up that lifestyle that all my old friends would expect me to continue.

I think for me, I just wanted to live more natural... to me that is without a mall or a large selection of crap I dont need 😉

So when I was in the busy parking lot covered city, They paved paradise to put up a parking lot. 🙁 I just loved the drive home from the airport with all the windy roads, lush greenery with bromeliads hanging in the trees and peekaboos of aqua waters just makes me so happy. I may not stay here forever but I will say that I do love living here right now and couldn't picture myself anywhere else.

It would be difficult for me to go back to civilization to live full time. But I know I'll have to sooner or later.

We went to DC over the holiday, I took joy in the little things (like sidewalks) but I was so ready to come home too.
I think it was one of my first times really feeling anxious to go home to the VI though.

were the cherry blossoms out or had they already bloomed

I get overwhelmed when I go to Puerto Rico. I feel like that kid from Oklahoma who steps into New Yor traffic for the 1st time. I agree with DonExodus. I get home to STX go to the gas station and get a beer for the drive home, go over the bypass at look at the view...ahh civilization.

were the cherry blossoms out or had they already bloomed

Already gone 🙁 but we weren't really around the mall anyway

Cherry blossoms are usually a mid-late April thing I think.

I was born and raised in DC, and went back a little over a month ago. The traffic, rude snobs, lines, crowds, so many things pissed me off. Nobody can relax in the city, nobody can calm down for a minute and take it easy. Everybody was so uptight and worried about the tiniest little things. One guy at a store was screaming like a child at the store manager in front of tons of people that they didn't have a certain stuffed animal for his daughter, really guy? Is that necessary? I can't believe the materialistic craziness. I love the laid-back life I live here, even with all the little quirks, its still 100% better than the states, I was so happy to get back here.

Welcome back to paradise 🙂

i couldnt remember when they came out. i do remember that they are beautiful

Still a newbie after almost four years but wouldn't have it any other way. Went back last year to visit family in LA (Lower Alabama) for a week and was really glad to be back. Last month I went back to Southeast NM, where I lived for the last thirty years. Small town where the aliens landed. Smaller than STX. Was happy to visit with family and friends but was happier to return to the island. There is just something about the lifestyle here that can't be reproduced elsewhere. "Island time", I think it's called. Patients with all the obvious ailments here and acceptance of the culture. I've met so many wonderful people here, natives and 'continentals', that I no longer imagine living anywhere else. Long ago I lost interest in things and decided to abandon the phrase: "Live better through modern chemicals" that was from my era. Sure, I get miffed and vexed over the corruption, roads, WAPA, etc. but, once I look out over the beautiful Caribbean, all that melts away. I'll go back to the mainland, but only for visits. And when my last breath is done, just dump me in the boat and push it out to sea. :}