Tomorrow morning my parents board a plane and return to the Northwest. I am sad.
When family gets together there are always moments of such unbridled happiness we wish it would never end. There is the inevitable freak-out where we wonder why we even bother visiting each other in the first place. There always comes the moment when I ask my mom if she wouldn't seriously reconsider just staying - forever.
It's difficult, if not impossible, to gain any real perspective on people close to you. Real connections, real relationships in life, have nothing to do with frequency or proximity. Moments come and go, but the choice to savor that moment is what counts. Enjoying the people around you to the fullest (even if that means having it out with them in the middle of the dolphin habitat!) and continuing to value their presence. Making the choice to bridge that gap, even if the act of building that bridge is challenging.
When we chose to establish our life, our family, in Hawaii, we both knew we would be giving up easy access to our extended/original families. I'm thankful for trips like these. I'm thankful that my family makes the effort to get together at least once a year. I wish I could reciprocate more often. I wish airlines would embrace kamaaina rates. I wish Wisconsin would mysteriously drop down in the middle of the Pacific, preferably somewhere off the Haumakua coast.
But mostly, I wish I could hire someone to come and restore my house to the condition it was in a week and a half ago!
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