An Unexpected Departure

My mom flew out to DC to visit me on Friday.  On Wednesday or Thursday before she came I mentioned maybe driving to the coast so we could "go to the beach" which would likely include winter clothes and lots of blankets, but I have been dying to sit and hear the ocean.  I seriously feel like there is an empty place in my heart since I left Myrtle Beach.  It just does something for me to sit and watch and listen to the ocean.

Mom was supposed to fly home to Colorado on Friday and then fly out to Hawaii with my dad on Saturday for Dad's annual work conference.   On Saturday before bed she mentioned that she would love to take me to Hawaii.  We could leave a couple days early she said and then stay with Dad once he arrived.  I thought this was mostly wishful thinking.  That's what it sounds like right?  I mean, it's Sunday before we are even seriously talking about this and that means we could be leaving for Hawaii...very soon.  Like this morning. My flight took off at 7:20am.  Or at least it was supposed to.  We had some issues of freezing rain in DC (the least of problems considering the Northeast and Midwest) but enough to require a good 45 minutes of de-icing, so then at 8 I was off to SLC and arrived just in time to board for my connection to Honolulu. And now, I am sitting in a hotel room on the Big Island, in Kona, waiting for Mom to arrive.  Outside is the pacific ocean (which I can't hear yet and I can't see much of), it's a beautiful 76 degrees, there's been a light warm rain and the salty smell of the ocean.  I decided that heaven has got to include the beauty of tropical islands.

I feel like I'm living in a dream.  Nothing has gone how I planned it to go in these first four weeks of the New Year, and yet....sometimes the most unexpected things are turning out to be pretty...amazing.  Sometimes it is truly stunning how much your life can change in a very short time.

It's a breath of fresh air to be here.  I feel like I haven't seen the sun in ages, I'm tired of the cold.  When I lived in CO and UT I loved winter, but I don't love winter in VA.  When it's cold it's just dreary and miserable.  Urban living doesn't hold the beauty of snow like the suburbs and space of the west does. Virginians don't know how to deal with the winter.  There aren't enough snow plows, people don't know how to drive, and it's just cold, miserable and dreary.  It sort of makes me sad.  I almost started to cry when I got off the plane in Honolulu. It was like waking up- remembering that there is still light, and sun, and beauty and LIFE!  Everything isn't cold and frozen. Life goes on. I love it.