Hawaii

Location:
United States

Life, tropical, greatful

By Tony

A Journey to Hawaii After seeing nothing but ocean for 4 hours any sort of land looks good. However, calling the islands of Hawaii good is a tremendous understatement. Sprinkled in the world’s biggest ocean they look as if they crumbled off some other tropical world. We landed in Maui, and the island felt familiar, I thought, maybe we had met in a dream. The plane ride was long, but not nearly as long as the journey my family took to get to Hawaii. About two years ago my stepfather was diagnosed with stage four renal cancer. A tumor the size of a football had made itself a home in his lower back. My mother noticed it one morning as he exited the shower. Sometimes, I wonder if he would have been better off never knowing. As we exited the plane Maui rushed all over me. The smells, the sights, the feelings, it was almost too much to take in. “Thank you,” I said aloud and thought how lucky we are to all be here together. Two years ago nobody thought we would be all together, let alone in Maui. My stepfather, Roger, was given three months to live. His cancer was so advanced that it was too late for kemo therapy. They had to take out the tumor immediately. Surgery is always dangerous, but this procedure had acute ramifications. If they weren’t able to fuse his L3 and L4 back together correctly, he may not ever be able to walk again. Back in Maui we got in our rental cars and made the amazing drive from the airport to Kaanapali Shores, the resort we were staying at. As I walked through the lobby to check myself in I found myself standing still. I needed to soak it in. The openness of the lobby let me feel the ocean air, and see the pools and the beach. I could not believe we were really here. After composing myself I headed to my room. I opened my balcony doors and heard the ocean. This was all quite an experience for a Midwestern kid from Minnesota. As I saw Roger walking from my balcony I thought how far he’d come. How far we all have come. I thought of all of us waiting in the hospital as he had surgery. Would he be able to walk? Would he be the same? How did we go from knowing nothing to a life-threatening situation? I looked at my mom, she was frightened and was fighting back moments of devastation, but she was determined that he was going to be okay. “Mom, you okay?” I asked, knowing she wasn’t but wanting to console her. “I know God didn’t bring this man into my life, just to have him taken away,” she said with calm belief. Roger and my mom had met after each experiencing failed marriages, and they both completed pieces in each other that had until then been unfulfilled. Mom never got an opportunity to fall in love, or even date, because being a single mother and running her own business took up all of her time. They met later in life, and were both able to stop, and just breathe. Looking at Roger from my balcony on the shores of Kaanapali, I saw my mother come up from behind him and grab his hand as they walked to the beach. The sight of both of them together made me think about what brought us to Hawaii. After Roger’s bones were fused, his spirit soared. He saw how he could beat this. More so, he expressed how he didn’t want to live in the shadow of cancer, but in the sunshine of life. He wanted to take our little blended family of stepsiblings and awkwardness and strengthen it. He wanted to live now. That’s exactly what we did. We swam with sea turtles. We tried to catch waves on boogie boards. We cheered one another with coconut concoctions, and smiles knowing although this moment is limited the memory is forever. Whatever happened from this time forward could never rob us of our time in Hawaii. Roger’s cancer is for now contained, but in Hawaii I learned that even if this disease overtakes him it can never contain his spirit. It can never define him, for he won’t let it. No matter what happens to my family in the future I know that Roger and my mother will eternally hold hands walking down the sandy shores of Kaanapali. Thank you Hawaii.

Further Information

Travel tips: Enjoy, and have a plan which helps you make the most of your trip.

Must see/do at this place: Take it all in. Allow yourself time to feel the spirit of Hawaii.