After Dan died I had a difficult time being out and about, even on the days when I felt I could "maintain" for a few hours. Inevitably I'd run into someone who'd start to tell me how sorry they were, and, loving him the way so many did, they'd start crying. Then I'd start crying, and trying to comfort them, and pretty soon I was exhausted and had to go back home. So in March I decided to go to the US Virgin Islands for a couple of weeks. I'd never been, and thought it would be good to go someplace warm where I could explore and walk around in complete anonymity. I'd also never taken a vacation alone, and thought the challenge would do me good.

I started on St. Thomas for a week. I stuck pretty close to the hotel for the first few days, just finding my stride: eating, sleeping, reading. But by day 4 I was ready to explore a bit. I found a small "locals" beach and enjoyed the beauty and solitude. On this day I was returning to the hotel when I came upon a man who was having an intense conversation on his cell phone, right in front of the path I needed to take to get to the street. Wanting to give him his privacy, I continued past him and was about to turn back towards the path when I saw something orange in the distance in the water. I was so thrilled to see these beautiful starfish. I photographed them quickly and then left them to their moment together - fishes in the ocean; stars in their heaven.