Aloha Memories

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I was reading a poem, and it brought back a special memory which I wanted to share here. What I'm sharing was originally written to the poet:

When I read this poem, I remember how, when I was 12 1/2 (in 1965, which was the summer between sixth and seventh grades), my folks and I went to Hawaii where we stayed for two weeks.

During the first few days, we took several guided tours of the island of Oahu (where Honolulu is) but, also, had free time. Our group then flew to some of the outer islands of Hawaii (the state). Our first two nights were spent on the island of Hawaii--first night in Hilo and next night in Kona. We next flew to the island of Maui. On the final night, we flew to the island of Kaui (not sure of spelling, but it was something like that). We then flew back to Honolulu.

Once there, we still stayed in the same apartment type of hotel room (Reef Tower building), but we were now on our own as far as touring, so we rented a car and drove back to some favorite places, plus added a few of our own.

Every night, we would go to The International Marketplace where we would drink something called a Julani (something like an Orange Julius in a choice of orange or pineapple flavor) and would watch the entertainment which always included, among other things, a cool guy named (not sure of the spelling on some of these names, places, and products) Lanokila who was a stand-up comedian, master of ceremonies, and a singer. One of the acts he introduced was this young man who danced around with fiery torches and ate the flames.

We enjoyed listening to the bells from Aloha Tower which played at different times during the day.

I loved the ocean there, too. On the island of Maui, the waves went in and out with such a beautiful and interesting pattern. On the island of Oahu, I loved being able to swim underwater with my eyes open and seeing a whole new world that had such a wonderful blue overall color.

One day, we even went to where they were filming the movie, Hawaii (which we would see when I was in eighth grade, which is when it was in a theater in Indiana--the Circle Theatre in Indianapolis on Monument Circle, which is now home to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra), and one of the extras and I were flirting with each other. He was the deckhand with dark hair who was wearing a striped t-shirt at the first part of the movie.

Speaking of flirting, we had this wonderful head tour guide who was available to answer questions, etc. the entire time. Also had a beautiful singing voice. His name was John Cash, believe it or not, but he looked more like Dan Blocker. I'll never forget how he made me feel like a princess. I was the only child in our tour group, so he kinda spoiled me by making over me and making me feel all grown up. I had a crush on him, even though there was a boy in my grade at school on whom I had a bigger crush. I think I'll always have a crush on John Cash.

Anyway, in short, Hawaii was a very pleasant experience and very beautiful and enchanting.

I was glad to leave at the end of our stay to fly back to San Francisco to visit for another week with Uncle Finley and Aunt Marce, and I was glad to get back to Indiana. Only one time had I ever considered leaving Indiana and living somewhere else, and this wasn't the time.

But Hawaii was still a place that I wished were closer and less expensive to get to. If it were, I would have gone back a whole lot more.

Which brings me back to the original thought here.

I remember one night that I had this dream. By then, several weeks had gone by since our trip to Hawaii.

In the dream, I was back in Hawaii with my folks, and we were walking along a sidewalk in Honolulu. There was a light mist going on (which was what usually happened instead of rain) and the bells of Aloha Tower were playing.

Then, I woke up and found myself in my own bedroom.

Keep in mind that I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Hoosier, and there has never wanted to live anywhere else besides Indiana (with the exception of when I REALLY fell for a guy while visiting Acapulco a year later and thought about marrying him someday and living down there).

I might want to live somewhere for a time (such as while teaching at a one-room schoolhouse or something like that), but Indiana has always been so much home to me.

Even so, I woke up from dreaming about Hawaii and found myself back in my bedroom, and I lay there in bed after that crying for awhile.

This poem reminded me of this.



This is a link to the poem that inspired this review:


My Wings