Sitting on the veranda, sipping a rum punch and watching the warm Caribbean sun set behind the palm trees, life in St. Lucia is a million miles from what I left in England. I was brought up in Belfast but went to university in England and after leaving college never really had a career or any idea of where my life was going. I simply went to work and came home again, looking forward to the weekends spent with friends at pubs and clubs. There was the odd boyfriend, but nothing serious and one year simply rolled into the next. I valued my independence and enjoyed my carefree existence without ever thinking about tomorrow. I had an undemanding job with BT working shifts as a computer operator and shared a house in Brighton with my sister Meabh. We were very close and I didn’t consider for a moment that either of us would wish to move on. But when I was 28, I was informed that my office was closing and offered a generous redundancy package. For once I had the opportunity to choose what my next move would be rather than simply drift into it and I knew that this was important.
My friend Elaine was living in St. Lucia following a VSO placement as a physiotherapist and I had visited her on holiday. When I learnt I could opt for redundancy, I returned with Meabh for another holiday and imagined what it would be like to live there. I loved the idea of having a healthy glow all year round, of never having to wrap up against a biting wind and maybe having a walk along the beach to unwind after work instead of heading for the nearest pub. I didn’t have Elaine’s skills, but felt sure I could develop others. I loved the idea of moving to a Caribbean island and knew that there was nothing to stop me. I was only responsible for myself and thought that if I didn’t do it now, I never would. It was a beautiful island and I was ready for a change. Then on the last night of the holiday I met Thorpe, a lovely guy who worked for Elaine’s husband, and we clicked. He was different from the guys I knew at home, thoughtful and attentive without being patronizing. He looked at me and I knew he cared. The feeling was so strong that when our plane took off, I cried for a good ten minutes and my mind was made up.
I came home and settled my bills with the redundancy money and still had enough to live for a couple of months without worrying about work. When I moved to St Lucia in February 1993, I was stepping into the unknown but my only fear was failure.
I arrived at Carnival time which has a great holiday atmosphere and stayed with Elaine. St. Lucia is an island of contrasts, from the mountainous interior to the sandy beaches, from the blues of the sea and sky to the vibrant greens, reds, oranges and white of the flora. It is a friendly place with an easy pace of life and I adored it. Elaine introduced me to a prospective employer extolling my computer skills. In fact, my limited experience was with mainframe computers – not PC’s - but those were early days for computers in St. Lucia and I was determined to succeed. I offered a ‘can do’ attitude backed up with a reasonable amount of intelligence and initiative. And it worked. I soon made new friends through my job as well as my relationship with Thorpe which blossomed and we moved in together.
However, I only had a six month visa and in August 1993 Thorpe and I returned to the UK to see my family. We had a wonderful time. We got engaged in Belfast and bought a ring in Brighton before heading back to St. Lucia where I was sure I wanted to spend my life with Thorpe.
This was so out of character for me, the classic laddette and lover of independence who had declared never to have children. So, a few weeks later, I was numb with shock on discovering I was pregnant. I truly felt I didn’t have it in me to be a mother; marriage was one thing, but having a child was quite another. One of the worst things you can tell Irish Catholic parents is that you’re pregnant out of wedlock, but an unplanned pregnancy at 29 is pure recklessness! My parents were knocked sideways by the news but remained supportive as always. Fortunately Thorpe was delighted and although we were stony broke, we moved our wedding plans forward with haste. It was an idyllic wedding at a friend’s house decked with hundreds of fantastic flowers followed by a great party.
My parents insisted that their first grandchild be born in Belfast and our beautiful Rosie was born there in May 1994. We then managed to persuade my beloved sister Meabh to come back to St. Lucia and help look after her niece. (She lived with us for six months and met John who she finally married here in 1998 - another story all together!)
My wild life of partying was over. Work and family life were all encompassing and unlike the first pregnancy, I was delighted when Dylan followed 2 years after his sister. Bringing up children in St. Lucia is more carefree than in England. There is no fear of crime and relatively little traffic; you feel that children are safer and they have far more freedom. The sun nearly always shines and they can be outdoors in light clothing all year round. I feel privileged to have been able to bring my children up in such a relaxed atmosphere, so different from my own in Belfast.
In 1998 I had the opportunity to work for Sea Island Cotton Shop which is St. Lucia’s best known tourism retail chain. It has its own batik factory and I was initially approached to streamline its management. The result was successful and I subsequently took on other areas of responsibility - from marketing to human resources. . Buying followed which took me as far afield as Thailand, India, Bali and China. Seven years later I am its General Manager with 75 employees, 12 retail outlets and a thriving wholesale operation. It’s a fantastic, interesting and varied job – I would never have had the same opportunity in England.
But I still look forward to the weekends when I play my most important role – that of ‘Mummy’. We spend our time on the beach, by the marina or on the sea. There will always be a barbecue with friends and a game of cricket for the boys. We love sailing and scuba diving while the children snorkel. Sometimes we go for a weekend to Barbados or Antigua and love shopping in French Martinique.
I love my life here and have to give credit to Thorpe for holding the household together while letting me do the job I love and travel without ever worrying about how things are at home. Thorpe and I have had our ups and downs as all couples do, and we’ve ended up stronger, wiser and more accommodating. I still recognise him for being the wonderful person I first met 12 years ago.
Belfast will always remain my home and the children adore it. We must be one of the few families that leave a paradise island in the Caribbean to go on holiday to an Irish winter, and thoroughly enjoy it! We may not have the advantages of museums and art galleries here, but make the most of them when we are with my parents. They came to St. Lucia for the first of many visits in1996 and now feel it is their second home.
Our family life in St. Lucia makes me very happy. It’s not perfect, but increasingly these days I find myself feeling fortunate that I live here and so thankful for the outcome of the dead-end job at BT. Such is the paradox of living in St. Lucia, or maybe it’s simply the paradox of life.
© Judith Cameron