The pictures and the memories they bring

Day 51

Very simple post.  Remember the story of my first trip to Puerto Rico?  The one I told ChatGPT to write about?  Well, when I went back home, I started checking some photo albums, and well, I got some a few pictures of that trip.  I will, as best as I can, write about the pictures and try to remember, as best as possible how I felt then, and how I feel now about those pictures.

Without further ado, below the pics:

This was probably one of the last days at the Guajataca Boy Scout camp.  I've been trying to find myself in this picture to no avail but probably I felt shy as fuck, back then I was really bad at making friends or feeling comfortable among people I did not know and on top of that, imagine me being the only one who did not have a boy scout uniform, well, for someone who had really big issues fitting in, that didn't help much.  That said, I did enjoy my time in Puerto Rico doing weird stuff I've never done before, and it was just the first of many adventures to come.  Would I repeat that? Without a doubt, should my parent made have made a better job at preparing me for this? Without a doubt.

As mentioned above, I was one of the few who didn't have a boy scout uniform, so I kind of felt like the odd one out due to that.  Now days I don't care at all about that but then I did, and I hated that.  As I grew older and wiser, I realized that my happiness depended on me and only on me, if I don't feel comfortable at some place, I just avoid it, and if someone doesn't like how I dress for a particular occasion is their problem, not mine.  It, however, took me years to understand and living abroad and traveling the world really opened my eyes regarding that.  Just as a side note, one time at college we had a substitute teacher for a day, someone who was a student from my same high school, and we were taking shit and for whatever reason he, wearing a tshirt, old jeans and converse shoes, said: "If a place doesn't like how I'm dress I would simply not go, I ain't changing shit for them" and that stupid comment made me look at the guy like he was the fucking king and looking at it now, I do realize that Santo Domingo does some weird shit to people (me).

A picture that I almost hate, this is me, the 9-year-old me, sitting at a chair in a water park in Puerto Rico.  Why do I almost hate the picture?  Well, weird haircut, chubby and full of insecurities.  Since I didn't really know anyone besides my brother, I was just enjoying the day but at the same time kind of bored, and looking at the picture, I do see myself a bit sad when I was supposed to feel a bit more joyful.  Maybe I was just tired.

On the other hand, I do like this one a lot, it kind of show that then I was a clown (pretending to be driving a car down the slide) which is pretty much what I would be doing today at a slide, so, I've been consistent for way too many years.

In general, it was a fun trip, with its ups and downs, and kind of got me to create a better relationship with my brother then.  He is 5 years older than me, so what teenager would want to be hanging out with their pre-teen brother?  Our relationship has not always been the best one due to being from different generations, but as we grew older, we go to understand each other a bit better, and this trip was kind of the starting point for that.

There are many more pictures from this trip, but these were the ones I came across in my recent trip back home.  Maybe I can talk to my brother about this trip, he may have a different take than myself, but that will be a story for another day.