The "SXM: Friends With Support" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Parked the car in the parking lot at the Price-Leader Grocery Store in St. Martin and headed to the front door of the new store.  Entered the door and looked for a shopping cart to do our initial shopping for groceries.  There were none.  They did have some small plastic baskets, but not enough to hold the amount of groceries we needed. I asked a clerk and they pointed to the parking lot.  I told Carol I would be right back and headed to get a cart.  Then, I realized I needed a quarter to place in the handle of the cart to release it from the cart in front of it.  At the same time another shopper was returning her cart and told me I could have her cart for a quarter.  As I walked toward her I noticed a wide elastic belt around her waist, just as I was wearing due to recent back surgery. 

My new friend Silvia.

I introduced myself and she told me her name was Silvia.  My guess was she was close to my age.  When she saw I also was wearing a belt, we had to talk about our different operations and how long we would have to wear our belts.  All this in the parking lot of a grocery store.  I eventually handed her my quarter and asked if I could take a photo of her standing next to me.  Another shopper volunteered to take our photo, but failed to get our belts in the photograph.  About 10 minutes later I walked into the store to greet my wife who by now had her hands full of groceries.  What are the chances of that happening on an island in the Caribbean?  Well, pretty great since a few days later Carol and I were in Philipsburg, the Capital city of Sint Maarten, and took a turn off of the main street, Front Street, to walk down Old Street and see if some of our favorite stores had made it through Hurricane Irma which struck a little over a year ago. 

Another new belt friend, Jean Pierre.  I know I look as if I'm
wearing the same shirt, but I do have more than one blue shirt.

As we approached the end of the street I told Carol to look down the street at the man standing in the middle of the street.  Fellow by the name of Jean Pierre was standing there wearing an elastic support belt just like mine.  When he turned and looked at us he got a smile on his face.  We walked to him and I introduced myself and asked him about his need for the belt.  He had not had surgery, but found that by wearing it he could ward off the surgery which he cared to avoid.  He was renovating his restaurant and found it helped to wear his belt since he had to move many heavy items inside the building.  Carol took our photo and we shook hands before we headed back to Front Street.  You never know what will happen to you while visiting on vacation, but to meet two people with the same malady within a few days on an island in the Caribbean is definitely a strange occurrence.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.