A Dream Come True…

Hey everyone I am back from my trip to the Dominican Republic and honestly I don’t even know where to begin!

IT WAS AMAZING!

I needed a vacation God knows but the main purpose of my trip out there was to visit/meet my father again.  The last time I had seen him face to face I was 4 years old!  The way my trip worked out I flew into Punta Cana Airport to a beautiful resort with my hubby and then made arrangements to drive 2 hours away into Santo Domingo, so this was like basically driving from Philly to NY so we were down for the mini adventure.

ADVENTURE IT WAS!

I was told to call as soon as I entered into Santo Domingo to arrange a meetup/pickup where we could follow a taxi to my father but thank God for my Waze (GPS App) it looked like I would be able to drive right to his door and surprise him.  That is until, my GPS died right in the middle of us entering the capital and traffic was HECTIC!  The cars and motorcycles drove around like a Grand Theft Auto video game and there weren’t many lights, stop signs or even street signs unless you looked really hard for them.  This was scary, intense and super exciting all at the same time!  Finally we found a place to pull over and make the call.  I immediately felt like 4 years old again when I called my father and said “Papi estoy perdida,” (“Dad I am lost”), what followed was a quick reprimand about me not calling as he advised before entering the city.  The reprimand was surprising to me but he was right and at the same time it reminded me even after being apart all these years he is still my Father.

Many things happened after that call and actually as soon as he caught a taxi to meet us where we were at, my husband ended up getting lost for about 45 minutes as we waited for him to “pull the car around” so we could get in.  My father barley being able to walk with a cane leaned up against the wall very concerned about my husband’s safety even looked me in my eye and told me in spanish “He may never come back.”  I was scared at first but at that moment I had to let my faith take me to the next level because it was either breakdown and stress or hope and believe and I knew in my heart he was coming back.  I was stressed for a quick minute though as the time passed, but I had to turn that fear into faith real quick LOL!  Thank God after about 45 minutes of him accidentally taking a wrong turn, not knowing any spanish, having my phone as well as his own and being in another country for the first time he made it back to us!  That is when more adventures and fun began. 🙂

Home Sweet Home

We pulled up to my father’s house and I was greeted at the gate by who he called my second mom, it was my 82 year old grandmother.  Her eyes welled up with tears as she rushed to me, grabbed me by my hand and led me into the kitchen and showed me the sink where she said she used to bathe me when I was a little girl.  She cried and held me tight.  I cried with her and felt so much joy and peace, truly this was like one of those stories you see in the movies.  I was greeted by much family: a step mother, 2 brothers a sister and a niece and a couple of nephews.  All this family that I had never known for sooo many years and the love was overflowing.  They fed us some delicious Dominican food and we hung out and spent time together at the house and around the city.

 

Papi to the Rescue!

Before we headed back to Punta Cana we got lost yet again.  The streets are very dark at night and even though the driving slows down a little, there is even more traffic.  We looked like tourists out there for real with our little white rental and “fancy phones,” as my father calls them.  He reminded me that poverty is serious out there and you have to be super careful because you can get killed even for a pair of shoes.  With this reality and being lost again and not being able to see the street signs to tell my father where I was, we had to drive around for a minute.  Now I have lived in the hood and have seen some rough hoods but nothing like this!  Please know it is serious!  We stayed prayerful, watchful and found a well-lit spot to call my dad as my hubby jumped out the car to find the street signs.  It was kind of scary because we had never been there and the last time I visited I was 4 years old but it was definitley an adventure as we were lost again.  So I want to say like maybe 5 minutes passed, and there my father was on the back of a motorcycle taxi with his cane in one hand and NO SHOES!  LOL!  He was serious about coming to make sure we were safe and when we got back to his house he actually drove back with us to the main highway and took a taxi back, (FYI taxis are everywhere).

Many many things happened after that but those were some of the highlights of my trip/vacation.  Seeing my father once again after so many years was a dream come true for me.  I held onto photo memories of me and him and hoped that one day I could see him and spend time with him.  I had butterflies before seeing him and I didn’t know at all what it would be like but I felt in my heart it would be lovely and I thank God that it was.  Punta Cana was AMAZING but nothing compares to visiting the beautiful and raw Santo Domingo!  Can’t wait to visit and spend more time there soon!

Oh and by the way I actually even rocked my first ever bikini in years on the beach out there!  I’m not going to lie, I was a little scared at first since I usually rock a cover up or something and this time I am heavier than I have been in a long while but I needed to do it for me and it felt really good!

Hope you enjoyed this little recap, these were some of the greatest days of my life!  Even if it scares you a little, go live your dream and know it is never too late! Watch God work!!
Peace & Love!

~Limarie