Hawaii And The Heart's Beat . . .

Floating the Pacific with my girls

My family took me to Hawaii. They rented a rooftop suit with walls of doors that opened to the South and to the West. A hammock swing hung from the ceiling in the main room which lent to a feel of swaying in rhythm with palm trees hulaing in the tropical breeze. Birdsong rose on the air and filled our nest with music. And tiki lights flickered against the night sky on the periphery of our lanai where we’d sit and enjoy late nights, early mornings and Honolulu views.

We intended to cook in our cute and fully equipped kitchen. But aside from a little pasta and pesto and avocado toast, we gave in to the enticements along the main strip.

We bought floaties and we bobbed around on them in the Pacific. And I felt young and carefree strolling about in shorts and bikini. We walked for . . . miles and we rented scooters and we shopped and shopped for things we didn’t need.

After my granddaughter’s surfing lesson, she spent the rest of the day shading her skin and relaxing at the condo. So, I and my daughter made our way to the lanai of the Tiki Grill. We listened to live music, ate Happy Hour apps, sipped umbrella drinks and watched surfers and swimmers through Palms trees. We spent an evening at the al fresco Cuckoo Coconuts listening to a band play Oldies but Goodies. And a couple days before our flight home, in the midst of the throngs, I recognized a face.

We stopped and chatted for several minutes, learned we were on the same flight home, hugged goodbye and continued on our separate ways. At the airport, we sat together and caught up on the time that’s passed between us.

Eighteen years ago, we thought of each other as ‘the one’ and we spent more than two years trying to wrap our hearts around where we thought the future might take us. But with an eight year difference in age, he had yet to journey where I’d already traveled.

As I listened to pieces and bits of his life story, my heart held only goodwill toward his future. And as he expressed his observations of me, I knew he shared the same sentiment. “You’re just as beautiful as you were back then.” But the creme de la creme was when he stated, “Your energy is so at peace and you look very happy, at a deep level.”

My time in Hawaii was a beautiful gift of warmth and sun and family and the surprising realization that the years developed a healthy beat inside my heart.