I never imagined that life would get anywhere near this...
 This is Hawaii. That road once lead us on a hilarious adventure, but that was in 2003. July 2004 was... Gosh, I don't remember; not any specifics anyway. Everything I wrote back then is in a Colorado storage place.That said, the decade since then has been unbelievable. I'll fill you in as the this month rolls on.
***
By July of 2004 I am pretty sure that I had had it... island living was not for me. I had loads to complain about, but lucky for me, there were a few things that I could always look forward to with some regularity... and these things filled me with such joy that I could not help but be grateful.
Some of my favorite memories on that tiny Hawaiian island were of evenings on the lanai in Lanai. These evenings were shared with friends over dinners outdoors, hilarious conversation while playing dominos, still moments gazing at the Milky Way floating against velvety-black night skies, and ending with loving hugs & quiet good-byes. I loved those nights... we all did.
Then there were those soon waning weekend visits to the beach. We didn't attend church after moving to the island, so those short rides to the beach on the weekend were my retreat... no matter how much sand filled our swimsuits that would inevitably end up coming home with us. What a mess! This was the only accessible beach, and it always seemed to be left all to us. The kids would snorkel in the tide pool, boogie board in the ocean, but mostly play in the sand. We even had a couple of over night campouts, until that one giant wave we witnessed crashing way too far past the shoreline. The fear of a wave carrying my family out to sea trapped in a tent was enough to put a stop to any future camping trips.
Another thing to be grateful for was Omaha Steaks by mail. I'd place an order once a month to treat us to stuff we didn't have available on the island, or that I did not have confidence purchasing at any of the small grocery stores in town. Large grocery shopping excursions consisted of hauling ice chest to the small harbor for early morning ferry rides to Maui, vehicle rental, and a long drive to Costco, and back again in reverse order. What a chore. So, it was nice to occasionally have a food shipment arrive by Fed Ex. Ahhh, the good life... ? Last but not least was the ocean itself; conditions were pretty much perfect year-round, and it left me in awe. Fierce, strong, magnificent... it took my breath away. One of the greatest gifts I have ever had bestowed upon me... bestowed upon us... was viewing a humpback whale show from our beach chairs and towels. It was kind of cold and there were no more than 20 people on the beach that afternoon, and our outing was coming to a close earlier than normal. But, just as we started to get up, our friend Doug spotted a huge splash directly in front of us. A whale! This gorgeous creature seemed to be expressing joy and gratitude for his or her home... the deep blue sea. It seemed to be putting on a show just for us. We were captivated, and ohhh and ahhh-ed with every leap out of the water. Everyone honored to have had the experience erupted into cheers and applause when our happy humpback whale called it a day. What a treat. I never imagined I'd ever witness such beauty. Time stood still during moments like that. Until tomorrow. ~ Lil This post is written for Day 2 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge for July 2014 and NaBloPoMo.
12,108
|
No comments:
Post a Comment