Mary's Thoughts & Stories: Our Trip to Hawaii March2014

On our first day of our vacation we were at the airport for a greater amount of time than had been planned...one missed flight and three canceled flights later we were able to get onto a plane. In the meantime we got to meet a lot of people. The first fellow that came and sat down had just gotten off a flight from Texas. He was dressed real sharp (tailored suit and snappy tie) and rather looked like a returned missionary...with a few years on him. Reminded me a lot of Jon right off the bat. I asked him where he was from and he was living in the Dallas Fort Worth area. His wife was back at home with the three little ones (about the same ages as Jon's children) and he said she was so super. She not only handled all the going on's at home while he was gone...she was also the Relief Society President in their ward! I said "sounds like you did well when you married her" and he said "right on" I asked him what he was doing traveling all around the country (he talked about different places he'd been just in this week) and he said he was an engineering consultant.

So Jon...I started out on our little adventure with you and your family on my mind.

As the next plane unloaded and little family came and sat down. They had three children and the oldest, A boy about seven, really took to Grandpa Joe. He was so excited to come to Salt Lake and swim in a volcano and get diagnose pictures for his younger brother. They had a baby brother also. The brother needing the testing was in a special made stroller type device and wearing a helmet to protect his lumpy head. My heart went out to this little family. The mom and dad were so nice. (A little embarrassed at their son's telling the families whole history! I said "not a problem, he's a great Grandpa and used to this!" This little guy was very loved, just like Wyatt is. He had greater challenges to deal with though and my thoughts were about how lucky we are to have our own problems and trials. There were a lot of other people who visited during the long wait for a flight and many stories...these were the ones that stood out the most in my mind.

On our first flight on the "little plane" to LA California, there was a family traveling together to Maui. The two daughters and dad were super excited. The son was busy listening to his headphones and didn't want to be disturbed, annoyed with his sisters for trying to talk to him, and the mom was busy reading a book. Her husband tried to snitch it out of her hands a couple of times and she wasn't too happy about that either. Finally he and the girls entertained each other (and us too!) It was fun seeing their excitement.

When we got to California we had to catch a shuttle and zip across the airport to catch our humongo jet. We made it and I was pretty happy to find I had a window seat again. I love watching the scenery as we travel. Seeing all the houses and lights as we flew in to California was amazing to me to consider how many people lived there. As we were climbing higher in the sky I was able to see huge ships for a while. There were cruise ships and freighters and fishing boats. Then there were fluffy clouds with little speckles of blue and I soon fell asleep. When I woke up we were just getting ready to land in Hawaii! We had to go through their immigrations check to make sure we weren't bringing any fruit ect in. They are pretty concerned about protecting their fragile enviroment. My bag had been tagged as one that had been already searched.

Next stop was the shuttle bus to the car rental place. A necessary item on Maui. The island is 80 miles around. There were two areas that the car rental place did not want their cars to go. (take a tour bus if you want to go on the Road to Hana tour) During our stay we managed to go on both roads and I could understand why the car rental places didn't want their cars going there! The scenery was breath taking but the roads were....scary.

As soon as we arrived we got checked in and crashed. I woke up to sunshine streaming through the half shuttered windows and a very pretty bird singing right outside the window. I watched the bird for a few minutes and then decided to grab the camera and snap some pictures.

The bird flew away and came back shortly with a partner and they both sang to me. I felt so welcomed to paradise!

The next week I sent messages and photos to the kids until they were all annoyed with me...and the pictures! I just wanted to share this amazing memory with them all!

After a soak in the hot tub and a quick swim Joe was ready to tour the Island. As we headed out he saw a building with a message on it. I made him stop so I could take a picture:

Just in case you don't know the poem this refers to I am pasting a copy of it here:

     The Dash
by Linda Ellis copyright 1996

I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on the tombstone
from the beginning…to the end.

He noted that first came the date of birth
and spoke the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that they spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved them
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own,
the cars…the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So, think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what’s true and real
and always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we’ve never loved before. 

If we treat each other with respect
and more often wear a smile,
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read,
with your life’s actions to rehash…
would you be proud of the things they say
about how you spent YOUR dash?

Because of the way Jared lived his life I always felt thought of him when I heard it. How he would of enjoyed the vacation to Hawaii...and making the memories that we were making! And how he would of enjoyed sharing the vacation with us through the pictures and thoughts that I was sending via phone to family. Then we hit the first market place and lo and behold....there were chickens running wild all over. Talk about thinking about Jared. I almost could hear him laughing in my ear as I thought about all those chickens that he raised. Pretty crazy but I felt like he was there with us at this time. Made my heart pretty tender.

We ran into those colorful chickens every where we went from the beaches where Joe went snorkeling to the middle of town and shopping centers. They were everywhere.

As we drove past the sugar cane, and the sugar factory, and hit the beaches, and the whale watchers tour, the Road to Hana, Church on Sunday, the Luau, and all the many memories that we made I kept thinking about my family...which one of the boys would enjoy driving that scary drive up to Hana? With it's 42 one way bridges and many sights along the way? Which grandkids would enjoy the snorkeling? The sights and activities were so varied and there wasn't a day that I didn't think about each family member a number of times. While we were at church and saw the boys and men with their black skirts, I thought of Kevin and when he wore his black skirt to our church. (It's not so normal in Brigham City!)

We went on the whale watching cruise and I was taking a bunch of photos but then stopped because the motion of the ocean was affecting me in a not so good way. Joe was right up on the rail and took a bunch of videos and snap shots.

It was fun not only seeing...but also hearing the whales and I would do that all over again.

I very much enjoyed the hikes and seeing so many beautiful water falls. There were many things you could do from helicopter rides, dinner cruises, zip lines, deep sea diving trips, turtle encounters, luau's with real cool programs and dancing, art galleries, musems, and lots of shopping places.

I am going to just put a few more photos...When I saw the lego people in the museum I asked the lady if I could take a photo for my grandsons...and she said "sure, take as many photos as you want!"

So for my Lego grandsons!!!

For my Courtney "turtle lover girl"

and my mom....

This photo was taken just inside the grocery store. We bought a bunch of food and while we were shopping a nice lady said "would you like some mangos? I have some from the tree in my yard just out in the car...if you want them I'll get them for you!" Then snapped a photo of me by a arrangement of flowers there in the store. The photo below if from the place were we were staying.

This is Joe's favorite memory..me half drowned. He still laughs everytime he thinks about it. That's called snorkeling gone wrong. There is also a photo of the bathtub with an inch of sand in it. I did use the outside shower down at the beach and by the pool so thought I had gotten rid of most of the sand...but there was still a huge collection. As we were walking back the lady in front of us said "I feel like I've been permanently sandblasted in every pore of my body. I don't know if I'll ever get the sand out of my hair and skin." I could so identify with her words!