Why Réunion?

A week from now I’ll be on an island I never thought I’d get the chance to go to, but what is my fascination with the island so few have ever heard of? If you have heard of it there are probably two things you’d know it for; the most shark infested waters and it’s the island that the aileron of MH370 washed ashore. Other than that, its existence is not known by most, so why am I going? The story starts in 2006. 

I was with my dad in Madagascar and the trip wasn’t going to plan. I contracted E-coli and was, well, at one point in time I was praying for death. Misery isn’t a word to encompass just how downright awful the experience was. Anyway, this trip was going to be a highlight in an otherwise stagnant time in my life. I was in the middle of writing what would become Finding Kansas, but other than that I didn’t have much going on so a trip like this was welcomed fully. With the illness, the trip was cut short. 

At this point in time, I’ve had my diagnosis of Asperger’s for just over two years and hope wasn’t in my vocabulary unless it had the suffix -less attached. Arriving at the airport to leave was crushing because, at the time, I believed I’d never have the chance to travel anywhere by myself. This trip was it, it was getting cut short, and what’s that? On a sign board at a gate it said “Réunion”. My mind went literal and thought, “how big of a reunion is it to post it on a board in Antananarivo, Madagascar?” I was confused and I wanted answers. 

When I got home 27 hours later I instantly went to the internet to see who had a gigantic reunion on the island of Madagascar, but I learned it was its own island about 300 miles away from Madagascar. The words written about it intrigued me. “Dangerous” and “adventure filled” were the words I saw. At the time, it wasn’t dangerous because of sharks but rather a mosquito-borne infection that had 90+% percent of the island infected. For whatever reason I vowed that someday I’d be able to go there on my own and in 2016 I did. 

In a way, in the years of 2017-2019 I felt like I did after my diagnosis. I felt as if there wasn’t any hope to make it anywhere again. I lied to myself in 2006, as well as those years just mentioned, and I wanted to be able to go one more time to the dangerous, adventure filled island.  Next week I will have defied my own odds and it’ll be back on one of the furthest places away I can get from home. I’m excited!