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!

I just got home from a family wedding in Tecumseh, Michigan.

My first-cousin’s son married the love of his life. Spencer and Erica’s wedding was just as sweet and special as they are.  I was overwhelmed several times throughout the day by the knowledge that I have a large extended family.

I was raised a military brat and don’t remember meeting any of my extended family until I was 10. I had met them before but, I was just too young to remember.  At, 10 I was overrun with cousins and aunts and uncles and it was all wonderful.  After we returned from Hawaii, we spent a part of each year in Michigan with the aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents, but as time went by that once a year stopped.  Pity that.

I don’t get to see these people often due to geography. It’s a sad state of affairs when the matter of a 7-hour car drive keeps people apart, but we’re all so busy with full lives.

The wedding was outdoors at my cousin Kathy’s and her husband, Joe’s, house. What a beautiful, beautiful setting for the ceremony.  It was truly gorgeous.  I feel like I witnessed some magical – Spencer and Erica will be a love story for the ages.