little house on the island

every 'stand alone' home on this tiny island has a unique name -- saratoga, morning light, why not, mizzentop, sundeck, chameleon -- the list is as eclectic as it can get. i have no idea why that is but i suspect it has something to do with the fact that bermudians have so much free time on their hands. tell a cab driver the name of the house you're heading to, the road it's on, which parish it's located at (warwick, flatts, devonshire, etc.) and you're all set.

our lil newfound cottage is called SHARMIC. i don't particularly like the given name but hey, since we're mere tenants, we gots to live with it lah. if it's up to us (okay, me) she'll be called something lame and ridiculous like sendiri bayar sendiri duduk or bunga-bunga cinta bertaburan...

we were looking for something unfurnished, with two bedrooms or more, wood flooring, a lawn... view of the sea, in a certain price range. first there was the house right next to the main street and discount supermarket (bising giler!), then it was the one with too many stairs to climb (my mom and her lututs would curse me for sure), then we looked at... hell, there were too many properties to remember. we even saw one with pink wall-to-wall carpeting. PINK! by the 11th house, we were losing hope. then nakia, our friendly neighborhood real estate agent called us, "hey you're gonna love this house. it just got back on the market. your luck!"

our luck indeed. we fell in love with sharmic without even stepping inside. newly renovated, 3-bedrooms, spacious living room, fab kitchen, huge lawn, great neighborhood -- score!! we were ecstatic... until we encountered the 'bathroom situation.'

sharmic has only ONE potty pot and for those who know us as a couple, you'll know we're gonna have massive marital woes because of this. let's just put it this way -- he 'reads' a lot in there and me, well, i just don't like to be interrupted during my 'sessions.' imagine the endless knocks, the shouts, the wailing outside the door... am getting an anxiety attack just thinking about it. and that's just when it's the two of us... i can't even fathom the thought of having people in the house, when my rombongan cik kiah from malaysia comes to visit. definitely not a pretty sight.

sharmic means long-lived and infinite in sanskrit. a good name, a good start. so after some thought, here's what i propose: let's live and let live. one bathroom, no problem... we'll just roll with the punches (literally). after all, life is all about riding the wave and learning to adapt. not everything will go as we conjured it in our heads, no matter how meticulous the planning was. in this instance, we just have to bersyukur with what we have and berdoa that our lil sharmic will live up to its given name. and if all else fails, there's always that massive lawn i kept telling you about... :)