Well, well, well.  It’s January 2, 2018….not January 1, which was the ninth anniversary of this blog.  I took the day off on January 1 because, well….I can.

So much time has passed since the beginning of this blog that I forgot what it’s like to not be a blogger.  This blog has morphed SO much since the beginning that I hardly recognize it anymore.

In case you’re wondering, this is the very first post I ever wrote on January 1, 2009.  Pretty boring compared to what I’ve done on the island since then but everyone has to start somewhere!  I love trips down memory lane, which is what this entire blog is to me now….memory lane.

Remember when….

Remember when your phone bill back home would be like $800.00 if you wanted to keep in touch with someone in Jamaica?  Nowadays everything is so easy with data and apps.  Ugh.

Do you remember when Fire Water was kind of a new discovery and there was NO FEE to go in there and experience it?  I wrote THIS POST about it on January 11, 2009.

Remember when I tried to teach readers how to use the taxi system in Jamaica?  I wrote THIS POST about it exactly nine years ago trying to sound like I knew everything LOL.  Now that I’ve been driving on the island for so long I can’t even remember the last time I took a taxi.  I kinda miss the good old days.

I remember when my only exposure to Jamaican countryside was where other people took me.  Back in 2009 I wrote THIS POST with the most rookie photos ever of some of the countryside I saw.  Boy digital photography back then was crappy compared to now.  And boy, my exposure to countryside was limited back then compared to the places I’ve been now!

Remember when Blue Hole near Ocho Rios was a place you had to ask how to get there?  And there were no flags and tourists, only yourself and whoever you brought with you.  It was a real hidden gem back in 2011, the first time I went.

I TOTALLY remember the first time I tried to move to Jamaica in 2011.  Ocho Rios, before all the modern day shopping existed there and Bashco was the most interesting and hilarious shopping experience in that town.  Does anyone know if THIS STORE is still on Main Street?

Now THIS OLD POST makes me laugh because I wrote about playing pool in Jamaica as if no other foreigner has ever done it before and wouldn’t have a clue how to do it!  Oh God, did I really think no one before me had ever known how to function in Jamaica?

In hindsight, nearly all my old posts make me laugh for a combination of different reasons.  I think I really thought I was the sh!t back in those days!  However, in the case of meeting Beenie Man I definitely was not the sh!t, as you can see in THIS POST.

I really hope you take some time to ride the Delorian back in time a little and check out the early days of Jamaica My Way.  Reading old posts makes me laugh now and also gives me back a little of my sense of wonderment in discovering the island.

Jamaica still takes my breath away as much today as it did fifteen years ago when I first set foot on the airport tarmac, and every single day on the island is still like the first day.  Crazy, I know.  And now, as I branch out into other projects in life, this blog will take a back seat as I’m sure you’ve all noticed lately.  But it will never, ever die because the memories are just too good!

Jamaica will always be the love of my life, it just can’t be my life.

Until the next post…..have another drink…..ON ME.