I was sitting in my Florida home living room, exhausted from work, the rush hour traffic, emotionally weary of the past 911 attack and the recent sniper killings in Washington D.C. and Maryland. I needed to get away from it all! Provo emerged into my mind.

I made the travel arrangements. Suprisingly, most of the flights to Provo were booked. How could that be? Finally, I was able to purchase the airline tickets. My daughter, Birgitta, and I departed from Miami International Airport to fly into Providenciales Provo. I was anxious to see Provo again after saying goodbye to it 30 years ago. I could not believe that I actually wanted to return to Provo after promising myself that I would never go back.

When the airplane landed, I could not believe what I was seeing. There was actually an airport and immigration office. There were tourist guides waiting for passengers outside the airport exit. They were waving their resort signs.

The following morning, Birgitta and I rented a car and headed towards Long Bay beach. When we arrived to the beach, I caught my breath when once again I saw the beautiful turquoise water. We sat on the beach looking at the water. I started to reminisce out loud to Birgitta and said Let me tell you about my life on Provo.

I was born in Finland in 1938 close to the Arctic Circle during the Winter War between Russia and Finland. My father was a Russian escapee and my mother was from a big family. Her family was extremely strict and religious. I was one of nine children. We were poor especially during the war time.

When I was 16 years old, I had grown up to be a striking outgoing young woman. I was known for my sexy lips. I fell in love with a young man named Mikko. Mikko was the most handsome young man in our village. He was tall with pitch black hair and piercing blue eyes. Most of all, he danced like Elvis.

I became pregnant with Mikkos child and had to escape to Sweden, because my religious parents would have disowned me for having a baby out of wedlock. Mikko followed me to Sweden. We were married and had two children. I became a cosmetologist and Mikko became a builder. We built a beautiful home and both of our careers were peaking, when one day it all changed.

We saw a newspaper advertisement that there was real estate property for sale in the West Indies. At that instant moment, I realized that this would be my chance to go see the world, maybe even America.

After months of planning and preparation, this dream was becoming a reality. Who would know that one day we were in our beautiful house in Sweden, and the next day we were holding our suitcases filled with all of our belongings, staring at tents on an undeveloped island with no houses or any activity surrounding our tents.

I felt as if I was hit by a baseball bat when I realized what I had done. Here we were. No home, no electricity, with two small children. There was absolutely nothing. Just bunch of tents scattered all around. Was this my dream?

We were shown to our tent. There was neither dinner nor any welcome celebration. We went inside the tent. I looked around me. It was barely big enough for all four of us. I was afraid to close my eyes that night, fearing what was ahead.

I had to cope the betrayal of Mikko, his extramarital affair with one of the childrens British teachers and the resulting feeling of loneliness comforted by alcohol.

My trip to Miami, Florida, opened my eyes as I witnessed a city filled with life. This trip gave me the strength needed to maintain emotional stability when I would have to return to Provo.

I now had the money needed to buy an old Datsun, which enabled me to venture out of the camping area. We went to many of the parties which were to welcome newcomers on Provo. One night after leaving a party, I ended up in the hospital in Grand Turk after falling off a jeep. The conditions of the Grand Turk hospital were so horrific that I had to escape.

After some time, we finally were able to move to our home on our Long Bay property. We met a family whose husband was a musician so we started a band playing at the newcomers parties. I also met Juanita who became my closest friend and taught me English. Juanita had a wig which all of the islanders girls wanted. This was my business opportunity. I started to sell straight haired black wigs. Also, the islanders wanted to learn about contraception. I taught them how to prevent pregnancy by using condoms.

We learned in time to adapt to live without electricity, television, telephones, and other modern amenities. On Friday nights, we would drive to the one and only motel called The Three Turtle Inn to hang out with the locals. The weekend highlight activities included driving our car with the locals to the airport to show the incoming airplane the landing strip using our car headlights. If the cars lights were broken, we had to use a flashlight or even moon light.

Three years had gone by. I was filled with homesickness, especially when my best friend Juanita left Provo to return to her native island. Our children were also nearing school age. I decided to say goodbye to Provo promising myself that I would never return. Sitting in the airplane, I had time to think. I had been close to America. However, the time on Provo had made me strong and unwavering that I knew deep inside me that I had to worker hard than ever before in Finland in order to make my dream come true. One day I would live in America.