Let’s take a trip to my favorite place on earth, Hawaii. The first time I went was with my singing group ‘Harvest Road’. I lived in the lovely state of Colorado, where your summers are three months long and winters are nine months longer. Our group went during the May 1st celebration which was like a holiday with floats and hula competitions in the park. When we left Denver it was cold and dreary. Beautiful swaying palm trees, blue sky and a bright sun greeted me when I got off the plane. I had landed in a foreign country.
From then on, I took most of my vacations in Hawaii including my honeymoon. Oh, one tiny little thing I forgot to mention, I am deathly afraid of deep water including swimming pools. Many nightmares have me drowning in horribly watery graves with chains, bodies and rocks. Sheesh what an imagination.
When I was three or four we were living in Germany, but we were vacationing in Spain. At the hotel there was a big, huge, deep one level pool (no shallow end). One afternoon I took my seashells down to the pool to wash them and fell in. Where were my parents? I haven’t a clue, but don’t blame them I was always slipping away. They usually had me on one of those kid leashes because I was fast. If it hadn’t been for a Spanish boy who pulled me out I wouldn’t be blogging today. Hence, the fear of drowning. My parents stuck me in swimming lessons as soon as we got back to the base so I do know how to swim, but I would rather not.
In addition, the sun doesn’t like my skin type, or maybe I should say it loves to eat my skin type. Both of these problems were a downer for my husband. He loves to snorkel and play in the ocean. On one trip, he coaxed me out on a boogie board, not knowing there were strong currents a few hundred yards from the beach. Well I almost died getting back to shore, I’m not exaggerating, both of us were utterly exhausted when we reached the beach. Living in snow country, we had no idea about strong currents, we knew all about blizzards, but that’s a story for another time. I was done with that sport.
Next was snorkeling. No way was I swimming down passed the surface of the water, so my snorkeling experience consisted mainly laying on a boogie board with a mask on my face.
These two episodes were the last time I was in in the sun. A scare of skin cancer has kept me in the shadows. I didn’t stop my husband from having fun I just spent my time reading a good book in the shade of lovely palm trees.
So why in the heck do I go to Hawaii you ask? Imagine sitting on a wide covered lanai with the gentle ocean breeze tickling your face and the sound of Hawaiian music playing in the background. Close your eyes and listen to the ebb and flow of the waves. Who needs the sun to know your are in paradise.
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