A Tropical Paradise (May 11, 2007)

Pauline in Hawaii

                                              

     In March of 1978 my dad was diagnosed with lymphoma.  He hoped to get well enough to take Pauline, my stepmother, to Hawaii before he died.  His dream of a Hawaiian vacation, however, was never fulfilled; he died peacefully on May 5, with both Pauline and me at his side.  Pauline became a widow for the second time in three years.  Her husband of 37 years had died of pancreatic cancer about the same time my dad had buried my mother, his wife of 37 years, also a cancer victim. 

     Shortly after Dad’s funeral, my husband David suggested that I take Pauline to Hawaii.  He felt the trip would be good for both of us.  Our youngest of four children, Kate, was in kindergarten.  Our oldest, Kelly, was thirteen.  Our son Bill was 11 and Tom was 9. David said he could leave work early every day for a week to supervise the older children. A friend whose daughter was in Kate’s half-day kindergarten class said she would pick up Kate after school and keep her until David was able to pick her up.

     My friend Helen and I had spent many happy hours in our childhood pretending we were in Hawaii.  We envisioned her spacious front porch on University Avenue in Davis as our Hawaiian home.  We wiggled our hips in our imaginary grass skirts, dancing to our rendition of Lovely Hula Hands.  We could see the imaginary glistening blue waves splashing on the shore in Helen’s front yard and watch the imaginary palm trees swaying in the cool tropical breezes. Even if the Davis summer temperature was105 degrees, we escaped to our imaginary tropical paradise.  Now, thirty years later, I would be taking my first real trip to the Hawaiian Islands.

     I have to be truthful; even though I was happy to be given the opportunity to take Pauline to Hawaii, I was unhappy about leaving David and the kids behind.  It was my first trip away from my family and home.  A week’s trip seemed like an eternity to be away.

     Because school would be out the first week in June, we had to plan fast.  Pauline and I decided we would see three islands on our seven-day trip. We scheduled two days in Kauai, two days in Maui, and three on the big island of Hawaii.  We went to a local travel agent who scheduled the flights and booked us at Surf Hotels on all three islands. 

     David and the kids drove us to the San Francisco airport and we headed off in the third week of May.  The flight over was uneventful but seemed very long.  I had only flown once before, and that was an hour trip to Los Angeles to meet my in-laws in 1964. In 1978 the planes had much more comfortable seating than they do today; the flight attendants were warm and friendly, and provided us a delicious meal on that six hour flight.

    I remember getting off the plane and being surprised at the air dripping with hot sultry humidity.  “Let’s get to the hotel and put on our bathing suits!” I said.  We hopped into a taxi and soon arrived at the fabulous Kauai Surf Hotel, which turned out to be my favorite of the three hotels we stayed at, even though they all were exceptionally beautiful.  We checked into the hotel, grabbed some tour brochures, suited up and headed straight to the tropical waves splashing gently just outside our room.

     The grounds were breathtakingly beautiful.  Not only did they have a variety of sweet smelling tropical flowers, but also included an ornate oriental garden.  Next to the ocean was a sparkling blue pool, complete with a large waterfall splashing into it. Close by was a cabana serving tropical delights.  It was there that I ordered my first Blue Hawaiian; this mixture of Blue Curacao, pineapple juice and rum was to become my favorite drink. Delicious!!!

     Pauline and I took every tour we could work in during our seven wonderful days.  We tried different restaurants for each meal and took sunset sails on every island, complete with Mai Tais (and Blue Hawaiians, of course), Hawaiian entertainment and splendid dinners.  We tried hula dancing, lei making, and snorkeling under the warm ocean water.

     The trip lived up to every one of my childhood dreams of a Hawaiian Paradise.  The only thing lacking from my perspective was being able to share it first hand with my husband and children.  On our return home, Pauline and I verbally shared our wonderful memories and the pictures we took.  David and I began planning that very day for a family trip to be taken the following summer back to Paradise.  But that’s another story.

To be continued