I’m taking my mother to Hawaii for Mother’s Day, 2017.  Specifically, we’re going to Oahu for a week and Maui for a week.

We used to live on Kaneohe Air Station, Oahu, so part of the trip will be nostalgic.  We’ve been told for years that modern Oahu will break our hearts; hence the Maui trip.  Maui is reputed to be the Hawaii that we will remember.

I’m overwhelmed trying to plan this trip. It’s going to cost SO FREAKING MUCH that I don’t want to make any mistakes or leave anything out or have anything less than perfect.  We’ve started planning 10 months out and I’m finding that is not far enough.  I should have started this six months ago.

On Oahu, I plan to visit the Pagoda Restaurant, Ala Moana Shopping Center, and the International Market Place. We want to go on base and see our old house.  We want to see if we can find where our church used to be.  And we want to visit the beaches of our memories – tropical paradises that we didn’t think twice about.

For Maui, I want to snorkel and see Haleakala and the Road to Hana. I want pristine beaches and waterfalls.  I want to lay on the beach and breathe in the scent that is Hawaii – a combination of ocean, flowers, mildew and pineapple – it’s a very distinctive smell.

I can’t wait to go.  It’s going to be the trip of a lifetime.  I have about decided to hire a travel agent to make sure it all goes well.  We’ll see.

But today we booked the hotel for Maui, so we’ve started. Kahana Village Resort here we come!