Spring Garden Healing Center

While I would sit at the mall at our kiosk and during the slow times in the middle of the week days, I would search the internet for property in Jamaica.  Sometimes I would come home in the evenings and sit with Bruce looking at picture for hours on end.  We scoured over property after property, villas, hotels and resorts. $1 million. $2 million. $3 million or more.  It's a good thing window shopping is free.

One night I ran across a privately owned piece of property near Negril.  It wasn’t $4 million dollars but it definitely will need some work. The story on the webpage told of a son who was trying to help his mother sell her property.  Mom is in her 90's and lived in Jamaica for a time.  The property appeared to have at least one building on it and was previously used as a bed and breakfast.

I found the contact information at the bottom of the page and sent him an email, not really even expecting to hear anything back.  Many times webpages like this are years old and the email addresses are long dead.  But the very next day, I received a response.  It said that the property was still available and to call with further questions.  Before I had a chance to respond, I got another email from a woman who said that she was the owner.

So, the next day, I mustered up all my courage, and called her.  She peppered me questions.  She wouldn’t tell me anything about the property until she interviewed me.  So when I had somewhat cautiously told her my story, I asked about her.  She told me about herself and the property formerly known as Spring Garden Healing Center.

Ms. Citrin told me that after her husband had passed away, some time later her kids had taken her on a vacation to Jamaica.  When it was time to pack up and leave for the airport, she told them that she wasn’t going home.  And so she stayed.  She met a Jamaican man, married him, and they built this bed and breakfast in a little place called Spring Garden, named so for all the natural freshwater springs there.  She lived in Jamaica for something like 10 years and hosted folks from all over the world at their little place.  The marriage to “her Jamaican”, as she affectionately called him, came to an end so she returned to the states and eventually ended up living in Mexico.  But she was visiting in St. Louis at the time that I called her.

I excitedly told Bruce about our conversation.  We decided that St. Louis wasn’t too far, and since we are always up for a little adventure, we jumped in the car and drove the five hours there to see her. She loving told us all about Jamaica, her bed and breakfast, the community center that she built in nearby Ketto, the little shop down the road where she bought her groceries, trips through the "hidden cane fields" on her motor bike, the school and the church nearby.  We could almost see the mountains in her explanation, the lush Jamaican jungle, and the fruit trees all over the property.  She shared pictures of the buildings and the grounds and people bathing in the spring.  It was obvious to us that when she left Jamaica, she left a big part of her heart on that island.

We spent a couple hours visiting with her in St. Louis at the home of her friends who hosted us. What a spunky lady Mrs. Citrin is!  91 years young.  I can only pray that we all look that great and act that young when we are her age!   Bruce and I had a wonderful visit with Lenora Rachel Citrin and told her that we would talk about when we could visit the property in Jamaica in person. I connected with her on Facebook - yes, at 91 she navigates around on Facebook from her ipad.  Since that day, she has become my very special friend.

As we were leaving and she was walking us out, she told us that she had documented her life in Jamaica.  She said, “Now I can finish the book. You are the last chapter in my beloved Jamaica story.”