Hawaii Bound

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Aloha! Well, that’s about the extent of the Hawaiian that I’ve learned from my previous two trips to Hawaii. Well, maybe I also learned Wahine… that’s the one that Sharon should use; while, I guess I’ll learn what mine’s called when I get there. On the first cruise that Sharon and I went on, we journeyed to Australia where they got quite colorful with “Blokes” and “Sheilas”. This will be our first trip to the Hawaiian Islands together, not quite as far as that first trip that we took; but, we’re looking forward to it just the same. Unfortunately, we will be missing Sharon’s brother Paul and his wife Karen. College basketball has come to Las Vegas and Paul will be seeing a student that he coached in California playing at the collegiate level. They’ll be staying at our home, which we’ve named Villa Bella. The pool, spa and backyard are done, the patio is furnished, the outdoor kitchen is ready to grill; hopefully it is the resort for them that we hope it to be for us. The weather is warming for them, so it should be nice. Our weather prospects aren’t quite so optimistic. Oahu has forecasts of showers, rain, showers and more rain for the first week. We’re hoping to catch a break; but, we may have to wait until Maui.

We might not normally have chosen to take this trip to Hawaii at this time, with two substantial cruise trips planned later this year, and with the weather in Las Vegas turning really nice. Those other trips are planned in June and August, and I must say that Sharon did say that she would be planning trips to avoid the Vegas summer. After some miserable winters in Ohio, where Sharon would say, “Honest, the winters have never been this bad before” that I had to chuckle when people would say to Sharon that records were being broken for consecutive days over 100 degrees (Honest, Sharon, it’s never been this hot before!) But the thing is, we have some time share points that we needed to use or lose. The time share originated as a gift from my uncle, and seems to have morphed in the gift that keeps on giving. So far, we’ve managed to either use, or find family to use, what points we have. In fact, Sharon’s brother Paul and his family enjoyed a week on Kauai two years ago. We’ll finish up our stay in Hawaii at that same resort.

We’ve put packing off until the last minute, amid getting the house ready for company. That may not be such a good idea with so many things to keep track of. It will be our first trip with our new luggage, recommended to us by Sharon’s sister Erin and her husband Dennis. They’ve been using the same Brigg’s and Reilly Luggage for ten years with only a couple of repairs needed on their pieces (guaranteed for a lifetime). We’ve been going through our luggage about every three years; so, we’re pretty excited to try them out. I’ve packed a couple of swim suits, and I fit in both of them two weeks ago. One of them is the same that I wore in the Dead Sea just over two years ago… Would that I weighed now what I weighed then.

We just got back from the Vigil Mass so we should be good to travel tomorrow. Sharon’s already printed our Hawaiian Airlines boarding passes and they reflected our TSA-precheck so hopefully that goes smoothly. Sharon got a great birthday card from Dena, a lady that we once worked with “back in the day”, and really appreciated the joke: “A lady needed to send a Family Bible to her son in a different state. She packed it carefully and took it to the Post Office. The clerk asked her, “Is there anything breakable in here?” The lady smiled and replied, “Only the Ten Commandments.” Question: Does a Score-Plus of years really deserve a reference of “back in the day”. Sharon left California in 1994 along with her first husband Jim. They took a Hawaiian vacation that year, just following the Northridge Earthquake, to try and relax a bit amid to turmoil of moving to Kentucky, changing jobs, selling their home in California, and now needing to repair that home following the earthquake. For me, the last time I touched foot on the Hawaiian Islands was 1985. I flew there for the week of Thanksgiving, almost directly from Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. My life was also in turmoil then, and I was changing jobs when I got back. Hopefully, we find the peace and quiet we are seeking. So far in our retirement we aren’t having problems finding things to do: Okay, some of them have been getting the house to where we want it to be. We moved in about fifteen months ago. Now all there is to do is to wait for our neighbor Cathy to call us in the morning. She graciously offered to drive us to the airport, and to pick us up when we return.

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