Why I Resent Bob Marley

You are thinking, "How can anyone resent Bob Marley?!  He is the most laid back dude that ever lit a joint."

I know it is strange but I have had a building resentment for the man over the past few years.  It started when we got back from here:

Anguilla

Pronounced ang-GWIL-ə NOT an gee a...it is a British West Indies island, not a Latin one

Have you ever been here?  It is an amazing place.  Anguilla is next to St. Maarten and is a British West Indies Island.  One thing that is absolutely wonderful about it is that it is surrounded by a coral reef through which cruise ships cannot pass.  This makes it so you have all the benefits of the island and its tourist (not touristy) industry but no mobs of people inundating the island off a ship every day.

Sidebar: I have nothing against cruise ships per se but if you go to a town that has ships come in and compare it to one that doesn't, you are going to find the one that doesn't is quieter, more relaxed and less expensive.

My family spent a week here after my Mom had been going a few times a year (she still does).  She has fallen in love with the place and it is easy to see why.  There are miles upon miles, even for a tiny island, of the most perfectly white sand beaches you have ever seen.  There are beach shacks for simple and very good island food and beach bars right there so you don't have to go far for a rum punch or A Carib.  The breeze carries the message of relaxation and the food and drinks help it along.

It is as if you are in the place you are supposed to be in order to listen to Bob Marley correctly.

Yes.  I know.  It is traditionally associated with Jamaica but since I have yet to go to Jamaica, this feels right to me.  I listened to other music while I was there of course but nothing seemed to go right to my heart like Bob when I was in that place.  I could close my eyes, laying on the beach and feel like I was floating on a wave of relaxation; no cares, no worries.  It is something that if difficult to attain anywhere else and explain.  All I can say is, when you have it, you don't want it to end.

Back in the US, I thought that if I listened to the music, I would be able to transport myself back to that place and state of mind...

no such luck.

I felt like there were pieces missing that made it so hearing the music made me long to be there, it didn't just let me be there in my mind.  It made me a little sad.  The more I tried to listen, the worse it sounded.

Now, I listen to a radio station that will play Marley occasionally, especially during the lunch hour.  On those workdays at lunch where I have to rush home to let the doggies out and then try to eat something at the speed of light and rush back to the office, you'd think a block of Bob would make me feel better...

NO!

Half of me has an overwhelming urge to change the radio station (or put my fist through it depending on the day I am  having) because I can't be there, go there anytime soon or at least bask in the memories.  The other half wants to desperately to get that feeling back that I can't change the station, chasing the dragon if you will.  It's an exhausting battle of wills going on in my brain.  I end up tired from it...but I still have to go back to work.  Grrrrr.

And that is why it is possible to resent Mr. Bob Marley.

I don't want to resent him, really I don't.  In order to resolve this problem I think what I need to do is hop on a plane, go to Anguilla (with my laptop) and get me a fix of Bob, rum punch and white sand.  I think if I do enough research there, I can find a way to make the music right again for myself.  If it requires many trips back and forth to test theories, so be it.  You gotta do what you gotta do.  Maybe then, 'every little thing's gonna be alright'.  I can only give it my best shot.