Well, it has been 15 years since I have had a real vacation for any length of time so naturally, it was going to be spectacular. And it was...just as I expected. Here are some of the highlights...
1st day-Mandee pronounced we could never get lost in an airport and then we promptly got lost in LAX. It turns out they have MANY terminals and we were in the wrong one for a long, long time! Luckily, we made a friend, Michelle, and the three of us practically ran to our terminal and then to our gate and sat down and waited for a half hour because the flight was delayed. I tired quickly of taking my belt off and putting it back on again. I had to go through security twice in LAX alone. It felt awkward doing that in front of large groups of people with stinky feet. I am referring to their feet, by the way, not mine!
We arrived in Honolulu at last. Our toiletries made it but ALL of our clothes were still in LA. Rats! I somewhat panicked. I needed my pajamas! Mandee took it all in stride and looked forward to shopping the next day. It was a rough 10 minutes for me while I tried to wrap my brain around not having all the new clothes I had just bought in a size 6 for the first time in years. How quickly one can go from being concerned about real problems to completely insignificant ones...but hey, I was on vacation and if there is ever a time for frivolity, this would be it!
Note to self: Next year; pack one bathing suit, cover up and flip flops in carry on.
We didn't cook or clean or do laundry or discipline anyone for any reason. There was no homework, no lectures, no carpools, no board meetings, no phones calls(okay, a few phone calls for the school),no responsibilities or decisions to make that affected lots of other people.
Did I mention it has been a while since I have taken a break?
Day 2
We bought new bathing suits and dresses! It was turning out better than I had hoped! Our luggage arrived and now I had more new clothes, not less! Isn't life grand?
Note to self: leave all clothes in checked in luggage.
We ate pineapple. We sat on the beach. I read a book without a purpose. It was delicious. This was the last day of straight hair for me. I had to roll with the humidity and go with what the Lord gave me...curls! I found out it is easier and that is what this week was all about...nice and easy!
We met a crazy, drugged man who beat us with bamboo mats when we didn't properly answer his question about whether he looked like a "bus man". I had no idea what he meant. I apparently answered incorrectly because that's when I got hit with the mat! We went inside after maintaining distance and watching him dance around and karate kick for a while.
Sadly, I have to resume my studying so I will write more about my vacation tomorrow. The real world is banging on my door. I have waited too long to answer. Tune in tomorrow to find out what happened next...
Check out the pictures for a preview. We had a blast and laughed ourselves silly.
Day 3
To prove I am a good friend, I rode a shuttle for 45 minutes for twelve dollars to go to a hawaiian flea market! And I ate soggy ceasar salad. It is hard to be a vegetarian around so much pork! Every stand had the same necklaces, t-shirts, bracelets etc. By the way, the necklaces are already broken...but wait, I am still on vacation in my mind so I will hurry back to my story!
We ate at Duke's or the Hula grill, I cant remember which. The food was yummy!
Some observations I made about myself on vacation:
I left my memory in LAX. I could only remember things that had to do with the sun:
sunsets
sunblock
sunsets
sunglasses
sunsets
sunshine
and oh yeah
sunsets!
I seriously lost 50 IQ points and constantly said the wrong words or no words came out at all. This proved to be great for the laughter we were consequently surrounded by. Luckily, I don't mind laughing at myself, and to be fair, Mandee was a little stupid too.
We almost made it through the movie "Across the Universe" but lack of drugs prevented us from finishing it. It got way psychedelic and we both fell asleep. So much for late night party girls! We did go to bed past midnight every night(Utah time)!!!
Day 4
It rained.
It was a fabulous day! In the morning, we hung out with Mike, the golf coach from Auburn University and he educated us on the finer points of the south, including how the south should have won the war and how parents should smack their children. He has been happily married for 28 years and thankfully, doesn't have any children to smack. His hands were full with the boys on his golf team. We enjoyed him immensely. He was an authentic southerner.
We had massages and mine was blissful. I actually learned alot during it. I love when that happens with the Spirit. Touch is a beautiful thing and we all need it.
We then had manicures and pedicures and went shopping. I found some great dancing shoes. Now I just needed to go dancing!
I literally had no problems the entire time I was there. What was so bizarre was how quickly my conversation turned to things that didn't matter, like how my hair looked, or whether my nail polish smudged. Typically, I have neither time nor inclination to care about that but with no other worries, I became quite superficial. It was interesting but I couldn't live that way long term, not enough depth but it sure was relaxing to let go of the serious stuff that makes up my ordinary life. I guess I took a vacation from my brain!
Day 5
It rained men.
This was the day when all the men came out to play. We met Jason and Chair and Aka and a surf instructor and guys from the luau.
Having discovered that younger men will actually occassionally be interested in older women, I was very careful about what I said and navigated my way through the experience quite nicely. After "Chair" followed us back to our hotel and asked for phone numbers, I jumped on the elevator and hid, leaving Mandee to handle him, which she did quite well. She teased me mercilessly about bailing on her though.
Jason, a 25 year old ex-soldier, was full of booze and philosophy. He actually said some wise things though I am not convinced he believed or remembered them the next day. He had 13 screws and 7 plates in his hip from a motorcycle accident. He was an interesting character.
I finished my second novel for the week. It was about friendship and I felt irriated briefly with Mandee for causing me to love her so much because when one of us dies, the other one is going to have major problems. I cheered up when I remembered how much older I am then her and that I will most likely die first so she will have to miss me!
The luau was fun! Hawaiians are very touchy feely people and we are from Utah so the letting strange men kiss our cheeks thing was a little uncomfotable for us. We laughed our way through it though and had a blast! The best part was watching the national guardsmen learn the hulu on stage. It was very entertaining! We met "chair" there who let us lean our backs on him during the luau, which caused problems that were solved in a prior paragraph. He was maybe 22 years old so it seemed perfectly safe. Another lesson learned. Sometimes I can be too friendly on accident!
Thankfully, this was the only day it rained men.
Day 6
We rented a convertible and blared music and sang at the top of our lungs around the island while taking pictures and stopping everywhere we could. It was exhilirating to be in that beautiful place absorbing it all. Very little is better than singing and admiring beauty at the same time. I was in heaven. Singing opens my heart in a way that nothing else does. I love to write but it is the singing that frees my soul and allows me to soar. It makes the feelings that are overwhelming my heart break free and they become manageable and subdued.
We stopped at the Laie Temple for a while. It was absolutely breathtaking and so peaceful. It was definitely the most peaceful place on the island. The Lord's grace and love was palatable there.
We went to the North Shore, saw Pipeline and watched a bodyboarding competition that was really cool. Graham asked us to go to take pictures at Log Cabins so we trudged through deep, sinking sand, for what seemed like miles, and finally found a Hawaiian guy who knew what we were talking about. He laughed and laughed that we were looking for "log cabins" because apparently, it is a surf spot in the WATER! Graham used to surf there alot when he lived there. It would have been nice to know THAT before we got there!! I got some good pictures of the WATER for him. And it was a good workout so there were benefits, especially because we only went to the gym once during our whol vacation.
We went the Dole Pineapple plantation and I ate chocolate covered pineapple. It was decadent. We watched a brillant sunset on the Northwest corner of the island. I never tired of the sunset. Every one was so unique and glorious.
While trying to return our car to the rental place, which appeared to have been moved during the day, we circled around a few times. At one point, when Mandee took the map out of my hands for the umteenth time-
Note to whoever may go on vacation with me in the future: don't rely on me for significant navigation or driving, I am really just good at being a passenger! I can sing and dance but am a little spatially challenged. I do, however, promise to make you laugh while you are driving!
-anyways, she was driving down the road and reading the map at the same time and I saw two tourists stepping into the street and the car in front of us stopped. Mandee couldn't see this because she was reading the map so I cried out, "Dead People, Dead People". Amazingly, she understood what I meant and put the brakes on and everyone lived. Then she said, "Stop would have worked better" We laughed hysterically. I have no idea why I said that except that I was afraid we were going to kill them but what an odd thing to say to get someone to stop a moving vehicle. We are still laughing about it today. If you ever hear me yell out "dead people" it is more likely that you need to stop than that I am seeing ghosts!
We tried to go dancing at Senor Frog's but changed our minds and I sat on the beach and wrote some music for the first time since December. It was a gift to have that part of my heart unlocked again.
Day 7
Last day in paradise.
We spent too much time on the beach and Mandee burned half of her and I burned half of me. A lesson learned on vanity. I laid with my tummy exposed for the first time in a REALLY long time and got really burned. If I would've left my bathing suit alone and not tucked it up, I would have been just fine, but no, I was vain and well...I paid for it! Actually , I am still paying for it 4 days later!
We had another massage and the massage woman thought I was Italian because I was so tan. That was the first time this Irish girl had ever been mistaken for Italian. I got a huge kick out of that!
We ate pineapple...again!
We danced together in the billabong store when a great song came on. I think it was Clumsy by Fergie.
Here is my henna tattoo story:
We walked by the street venders and I said to Mandee, "Who would get a neck massage in front of all these people?" Famous last words. So after shopping for Becca for a while, we decide to get henna tattoos. We each got a dragonfly on our ankle. They are pretty cool. I decide, very impulsively, to get a design on my lower back. I picked one out and then turned backwards in the chair and, hello, had to lift up my shirt and tuck things everywhere and he proceeded to draw it. Keep in mind, people are strolling and staring up and down the boulevard. I won't be able to see the tattoo because it is on my back and frankly, no one else will see it either...so there really wasn't a point to it at all. The main problem was, though, that I didn't consider how to get back to the hotel with a wet henna tattoo on my back. I had to walk around the street like that because it was our last night and I wasn't done shopping for my kids. I looked like a complete weirdo with my sweatshirt pulled down over my tummy in the front and hiked up to my bra in the back. I don't normally show the small of my back to anyone, let alone to the entire tourist population of Waikiki. It was a lesson in humility and also in thinking things through. I laughed so hard and so did Mandee, who had the intelligence to get her other one on her hand, although she had a hard time packing because of it. At least she was fully clothed while we finished shopping!
Day 8
Woke at 4 a.m. to go to airport where we waited for 2 hours for our flight.
We accidentally discussed the benefits of politicians using LSD with a fellow traveler. I think it had something to do with "Across the Universe."
I cried when we landed. Re-entry was painful. Loads of homework and laundry and responsibilities. How grateful I am to my six beautiful children who make it all worth it!
I can't wait for next February when I get to go back to Waikiki and envelop myself in the sun and sand and beauty again.
The absolute best part of this vacation was being with Mandee and all the laughter. We laughed hard every day over many different things that probably seem stupid when you weren't there. It is a special friendship, one that I will treasure for eternity.
Thanks Mandee Joe! You know how much I love you.
