Day 11: Our last day in Paradise
It seemed as if our last morning in Hawaii went by very fast (especially since we had been up until after 12 am-the longest we had stayed up all week). It was not even the fact that I wasn’t ready to go home. I missed me family and children a lot, but I also loved the time that Marc and I had been able to spend so much quiet time together in such a beautiful place. I’m pretty [positive that if given the chance to do it all over again I would not hesitate. Marc and I have never had a problem with making time for ourselves, but usually we don’t take as much time as we did on this vacation. We also learned a lot from Glen and Shelly about keeping your marriage fresh despite the day to day responsibilities and how important it is to be a blessing to someone else. Around 7 am I woke up to the sound of little people talking. Boy, it’s been a long time since I heard that sound, especially on a Sunday morning. Most of the time Marc and I are the ones waking up our twenty something year old folk (lol). I went and got washed and dressed first, and then Marc proceeded. When we were both dressed and bags completely packed we went out into the family and kitchen area to join the family for a breakfast of strawberries, grapes, oatmeal and sausage. We loaded up into the two cars and headed to church. The Word of Life Center has energy almost like that of a small city as soon as you enter the area. There are people walking around dropping off children at various stations, there were several men washing off the pastors car, and setting up for the church store in the courtyard for after church. The most energy is found inside as soon as you enter the door; you are greeted with a hello and the sound of praise and worship. Last Sunday Shelly saved seats for us while we went to the overflow parking area. This time I went with Shelly to check the children in and Marc and Glen met us out front and we all went in together. We were seated close to the front. After the praise and worship service ended the Pastor got up to do church announcements and showed us a giant valentine’s card for his wife with a large picture inside of himself. The drama ministry then did a skit on love and valentines. After service Marc and I went to the ‘market area” of the center so that I could find a copy of there praise and worship cd. Glen brought Fraya over and said she had decided to ride home with Uncle Marc and Aunt Cyndi. We walked back to the car with her and then proceeded to follow Glen and Shelly out to the highway. We went back to the house where Fraya and I had a snack (she had chips and I had chips and a salad) while Marc played with Buddy for the last time (I swear that man got just a little too attached to that bird). When the rest of the family got back to the house Marc and Glen went to spend some time with the boys playing a video game and the two older girls went outside to listen to their cd players while Fraya went down for a nap.
Close to 2pm we said our goodbyes and loaded up the van for the ride to the airport. Marc had been itching to see the boat that Glen worked on all week long. We had a few hours left before our plane left so we stopped at the base briefly and got a modified tour of the boat and then headed to the airport. Glen pulled up in front of the leis shop and purchased us one last goodbye gift. We pulled in front of the airport and unloaded our bags and said our goodbyes. The one sour note in the whole trip occurred when we put the new luggage up on the scale and found out that we were overweight on the souvenir bags. It cost us an additional 50.00 which made Marc hot, but I reminded him of the beautiful ten days we had shared together and that they were priceless and in the end this would just be a blurb in an otherwise beautiful vacation. I would need to remember this a few minutes later when I got tagged by security for a complete search of me and my bags. I must say that was the most unfriendly time of our hold entire Hawaiian experience. I reminded myself about what I had said to Marc only a few minutes before and the fact that I had nothing to hide and handled the whole thing a lot better then a younger Cyndi would have. We spent just over and hour in the airport after this (Marc walked around, got one last cup of Kona coffee and I picked up a book and magazine to keep me occupied on the long plane ride home). We checked in with the girls one last time and made arrangements with Nicki for pickup at the airport the next day.
Day 12: Home Sweet Home
We arrived in Atlanta early Monday morning after a long and sometime bumpy ride from Honolulu (I actually slept most of the trip) and made a mad dash to the next gate just in time to board (the Atlanta airport is huge and it seemed as if we would never reach our gate). The flight home was made in no time and before I knew it I was back at home sweet home. We called Nicki when the plane landed and after we got off of the plane we headed to baggage claim, picked up our bags and then preceded to the front to await our ride. To our surprise both girls pulled up in the van to greet us. (Do you think we might have been missed?) I know I missed them and had to keep myself from once again falling apart and crying. I shed a few tears the morning we left when I said goodbye to Nicki and again in Hawaii when I talked to the girls a few days before we came home. It did not help that even the little cousins were saying its time for me to come home or that my mom had said she was missing her baby (me). I consider it a blessing that we are all so close and it’s hard to be away from them for so long. Glen and Shelly’s youngest daughter reminded me of Nicki when she was younger, especially the very first day when she said excuse me doing a conversation in the van after they picked us up at the airport. I must say she stole my heart in part because of that reminder. Also, their youngest son “Peanut” as he is called reminded me of my son when he was young. Those kids pulled on our heartstrings and we will miss their energy. Glen and Marc may be apart for many years but when they get together you would not know it has been so long since they were last together. I gained a big respect on this trip for Shelly. She has a tough job and she does it without fail and with very little if any complaint. I admire all that she has taken on and with the grace and which she does it. I really enjoyed our time together. We loaded up the car and headed home. It felt good to be home. In some ways Hawaii seemed like a beautiful dream. When we arrived home there were “Welcome Home Mommy and Daddy” signs all over our front door and on our bedroom door courtesy of “Mama” Quisha ( Quisha had stated several times while we were gone that she wanted me to come home and be the mommy because she did not want the job anymore). We unpacked the gifts for the kids, Marc went off to take a nap and then we took the girls to school, church, etc ( now that we are home we will have to deal with day to day stuff including getting the girls cars back on the road. Seems like everyone had car trouble while wee were away. Even Marc’s Lincoln must have missed us because it would not start for us). I took a short nap that evening and then went with Marc to drop Quisha off at church. We went to the store to get some soup for dinner and then even went to a local thrift shop where I found a large glass vase for Marc’s shells and beach sand he brought back from Hawaii. By the end of the day I was bone tired and Marc and I both had slept off and on all day. I looked at the pictures from our trip one last time and then hit the sack. Aloha Cousin
