The Sunset

"I fell hard, eyes collapsing into the sky blue waves, mouth bouncing off the black jetties."

And so it happened.  It was time to leave.  Prior to my flight, I sent an e-mail to my therapist.  "I am going to Hawaii and I am miserable."  Looking back, I can't understand it.  But I can at least say that I had a rough year and rough years make it hard to appreciate the beautiful things that fall into your lap.

As I sat at the gate, I conversed with a beautiful family.  Two of their children had cystic fibrosis and the little girl wanted to see Hawaii.  I felt happy when I talked to their older brother.  Happy for the future.  Such bright little kids wandering this great earth.

The first flight went fast and I landed in Arizona.  I grabbed some food and then I headed to my gate.
Two hour delay.  Alright, I'll make the best of it.  I am standing against a column and my mom is texting me.  I look around.  I jokingly tell her about my potential lovers who are delayed with me.  Before me there's a very attractive one with a hat.  I say to myself "Now that one is ideal.  He would never be interested in a girl like me."  So I scan to the left and see another potential lover.  Kinda cute, but more of a friend type.  Then I look to the right of Mr. Ideal and I see someone that falls in between the two.  I thought to myself, "I guess I'll settle for that one."

Then we get delayed again.  The flight that was supposed to leave at 1:55 was now leaving at 8:00.  And the new gate was on the other side of the airport.  As I gathered my meal voucher and bags, I noticed that Mr. Ideal was sitting in a restaurant eating.  I looked at him and it was very obvious.  If he would have looked at me, I would have told him that our gate changed, but I didn't.

So I made my way all the way over to the other side of the universe.  When I arrived, I ate, I found a place to plug in my phone, and a man told me that I'd be perfect for his son Ian.  He almost missed his flight but gave me all of Ian's contact information.  I thought it was strange and honestly, Ian didn't seem to be my type when I checked him out online, per his father's request. I went to the new gate again and found a new place to plug in.. right next to Mr. In-Between.  This was right after seeing Mr. Ideal with his beautiful smile talking to a stranger.  Kinda broke my heart.

Anyway, back to Mr. In-Between.  I feel like I can have a conversation with anyone and everyone but honestly, he wouldn't pick up on any of my leads.  And I figured that maybe he just was not that into me.  Either that or he was just incredibly socially awkward.  But it was okay, our flight was supposed to start boarding ten minutes ago.

Or so I thought.  The air conditioner broke and there would be another delay.

And I am so thankful for that delay.

I remember it was finally very close to boarding and I walked back to the seats at my gate.  I saw one open next to Mr. Ideal, who was talking to some kids, but I sort of rolled my eyes and looked around for another seat.  There wasn't any.  And honestly, I was just fucking exhausted.  So I just plopped down next to him with my messy hair and tired eyes.

He immediately turned to me and started talking.  Or, joking, rather.   For the five minutes or so that we sat there, we joked about everything.  We came to the determination that the only reason that Hawaii is so great is because "it's better than fucking Arizona,"

I was so weirded out by our comfortable conversation that I didn't realize that they started boarding all the way to zone two.  He looked at me and said, "well hopefully you're not zone four!"  I, like an idiot, looked at my ticket and sure enough I was zone two, which was the same as him.  So we walked together and out of nowhere he handed me his business card.  He said, "in case you need a tour guide."  He even looked at my ticket to see if we had seats close to one another.  I was behind him so he said that I could throw paper at him.  I said that I intended on doing so.

We joked all the way to our seats, about how I probably lost my job due to drug use and how crazy my tattooed parents are.  When I sat down, he immediately turned around and started talking to me.  But then the lights went low and we all went to sleep.  It was time for Hawaii.  Every time I woke up, I looked up at Mr. Ideal leaning against his window taking a cute nap.  Oh and sure enough, he socialized with the person sitting next to him.  Just like me.

When we arrived in Hawaii, I passed his seat and told him I'd contact him about that tour.  The funny part is that I booked it, because I knew my dad and uncle were waiting for me and I really just needed to go to the bathroom to collect myself, fix my hair, relax before my dad started freaking out, as always.  And when I left the bathroom, sure enough Mr. In-Between was there.  He made eye contact with me and he would not let it break.  Not for anything.  He wanted me to talk to him, but I didn't say a word.  Why should I?

Dad and Uncle Glenny picked me up.  They told me how they just saw a man tied up and put into a white van.  They talked about how the Hawaiians don't like white people.  When we got to the hotel room, Uncle Glenny and I went on a walk on the beach and through Waikiki.  He showed me his mermaid tattoo.

On day one, we hiked up Diamond Head, which was beautiful. (This was after a breakfast that was complete with complimentary spam). Uncle Glenny and I made it up first but he stressed me out by nearly dying a million times, so I basically ran down the trail hyperventilating.  He bought me a smoothie to make me feel better.  After that we swam in the ocean, the lagoon, and the pool.  Then I put on a cute dress, pretty makeup, and was ready for the luau.

And all this time, I was thinking about Mr. Ideal.  John.  But unfortunately my phone wasn't working because my boob sweat from the hike soaked into the screen.  I kid you not.

But it dried up when we left for the luau, so I started text John.  He responded promptly and we had a dinner date set up for the next night.  He also told me that the luau I was going to was excellent.  He was right.  It was the most beautiful thing in the world.  And I was so happy to be there with my family.  I watched hula dancers, I shopped, I made a flower headband and wristband with my uncle.  I drank mai tais with everyone.  Then we ate a lot of food while the hula dancers danced.  We had pork, rice, bean salad, island fish, fresh pineapple, haupia, We befriended an Australian father and daughter.  The daughter, sadly, was terminally ill.  It seemed to be an ongoing theme.

Day two we went to Pearl Harbor, which was pretty moving.  I almost cried during the movie.  Our tour guide to and fro Pearl Harbor was great.  He took us through a neighborhood known for mangoes.  There were hundreds!  Then he took us to a hill where Hawaiians used to bury their victims of human sacrifice.  On the way back, he took us past the King Kamehameha statute and the apartment where Barack Obama was raised.

When we got back, we did some shopping, but I was excited to see John.  I also wanted to swim some more.  So I spent some alone time on the beach and in the lagoon.  It was perfect.  I'm glad I got that alone time.  Then I went home and put my shine on for John.  He warned me that his car wasn't luxurious.

When he pulled up, it wasn't a beater like I was expecting so I called him out on it.  He then advised me that the air conditioner doesn't work.  Oh well.  So he brought me to a cute bar/restaurant.  And honestly, we immediately connected.  I loved how he was a decision maker.  No one ever believes me when I beg them to make a decision for me.  He ordered our food and I loved it all.  Ahi poke, escargots, and edamame.  While we were eating, he won me a Kona Brewing Co shirt.  After that, we couldn't just end our fun date.  We decided to go to Waikiki for cheesecake.

So we parked and he gave me a piggy back ride.  We got sandwiched in between a group of girls and guys on an escalator.  I was girl talking to the girls behind me and he was guy talking to the guys in front of him.  When we got our slice of key lime cheesecake, we headed to the beach to eat it.  We sat down together and ate it.  We cuddled, and soon I was lucky enough to get some kisses from Mr. Ideal while the full moon overlooked us.

Eventually we decided to go back to his place.  On the way back to the car, a homeless man greeted us at one point and said, "it makes me so happy to see a couple that's actually happy for once, it's beautiful."

John then schooled me on how in Waikiki, everywhere you see an ATM, there will be a prostitute nearby.  And sure enough, this was true.  When we got to his neighborhood, he said that we had to walk a bit, which I thought was strange.  What was even stranger was the ten million homeless people chilling outside on the sidewalk.  And then, there was the fact that he lived in a boarding house.  We had to be quiet so the guard wouldn't hear, or the other boarders.

Despite all that.. weirdness. I comfortably plopped on his bed and we had a very enjoyable night together.  I made him drive me home at 3 a.m. because I knew my parents would be worried.  Sure enough, at 3:30 a.m. my mom peeked her head into the room to make sure I wasn't dead.

The next day I was glowing.  My mom noticed immediately.  This was the day that we decided to loop the island.  We started off at Hanauma Bay.  I snorkled and it was the most fun thing in the world!  I joked around with John.  He said, "Did you step on the coral and feed the fish?" (big no-nos) and I said yes, that I also took a sea turtle home (another big no-no, they're endangered).  His response was, "Yesss turtle soup!"

Snorkling with my parents was so much fun and I would do anything to do it again.  I'm so thankful for that day.  Mom did notice my hickey though and told both Dolly and Glenny.  Glenny promised to not tease me though so he was nice about it.  After the snorkling adventure, we looped the rest of the island.  We found beautiful lighthouses and perfect beaches.  We went to a cool marketplace too, at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We fought along the way but we also got along perfectly, just like every other family.  I did the map navigation, dad did the driving, Glenny and Dolly kept us calm, mom just enjoyed the sights.  It was perfect.  We drove through the Dole plantations on the way back and saw two tiny dead pigs on the side of the road.  Definitely not something a Pennsylvanian usually sees.  The pineapples were really cool too.

We were relieved to get home.  It was a very, very long drive.  Also, I had a second date to get back for.  Mom, Dad, Glenny and Dolly went out for seafood and I got ready for my date with a glass of wine.  He picked me up and brought me to an awesome restaurant, Nico's Pier 38.  We shared swordfish and pan seared ahi.  It was amazing.  He has good taste buds!  After that he tried to find me kava to no avail, so eventually we went to Starbucks and enjoyed some drinks together.  We had some awkward moments because we revealed some things that I think were very personal.  But it was good.  They were things that needed to be put on the table and we recovered after a long walk on the beach (while panicking because we both had to pee and there was nowhere to go!).  We found some cute anoles too, which is something you don't see in Pennsylvania.

We, of course, went back to his apartment and had another nice night together.  It was great, actually.  I felt so good just being in his arms.  I told him I had to get back around 3:00 a.m. so my mom didn't have a heart attack and he was pretty bummed.  I was too. Another strange thing.. he thought that maybe I had a boyfriend back home.  He asked me.  I told him no.

On day four, we had to check out of the hotel at 11:00 a.m. so I hung out with my family until about 11:30 a.m.  But I really wanted to see John before my flight at 10:30 p.m., so I went off to see him.  My mom was very supportive about it.  John picked me up and our first thing on the to-do list was shave ice.  But first we stopped for spam musubi.  Which was.. so much better than it sounds.  I want it right now.  And we also stopped at a cool little local marketplace where I tried some Hawaiian coffee and some cacao beans.

Then we finally got our shave ice to share in Haleiwa, the flavors of which were li hing mui and blueberry coated with condensed milk.  There was ice cream and adzuki beans on the bottle.  TO DIE FOR.  We got a large and almost ate the whole thing together.  And his love of plantlife was so cute to me.  He showed me some plants on the way to the shave ice and made me sniff a Christmas leaf, as he called it.  It definitely smelled like Christmas.

We drove around for a few hours.  He took me to a mall and we just walked around holding hands and smiling, enjoying each other's company.  It was such a beautiful area to drive through.  I hadn't seen it yet.  It was densely forested but in the most beautiful way ever.  He also took me through a very long tunnel through a mountain.  Essentially, I looped the island again but we took a different route.  After that we got some shrimp because the Vietnamese place he wanted to take me for pho was closed.  I was so confused!  I never had shrimp that wasn't peeled, because I don't know, I didn't grow up on an island, so he had to school me on that.  But they were so good.

We only had a short amount of time before my flight and we were exhausted from the hot car so we went to the mall and got a smoothie together (after grabbing my bags from hotel storage).  We shared our smoothie and walked around the mall hand-in-hand.  And it was perfect.  We talked about bad dates in the past, which was amusing.

And towards the end, we set a timer on my phone, and we snuggled and kissed against his car in the parking garage for as long as we could.  This was also perfect.  He gave me his hat.

When we got to the airport, we sat in the cell phone waiting parking lot for a long long time.  He leaned his cute head against my chest and listened to my heart.  I ran my hands through his cute hair.  It was the most comfy thing in the world.  And when the timer went off and we drove to the terminal, he got out, helped me get out my bags, and gave me a bunch of goodbye kisses.  As I walked away, I went out of my way to look back and see if he was still there.  He was.  I waved, he waved, and then I went off to security.

I remember feeling genuinely down.  I remember thinking.. "well what am I supposed to do now?"

I texted my mom.  I ran into what looked like Cameron Diaz in the bathroom.  I walked into Wee Man at LAX.. and through all of this I kept thinking about how badly I missed Hawaii already.  When I landed in Philly.. like clockwork...

John texted me to make sure I got home safely.  And we have been talking ever since.  I'm not sure where this is going, but I'll let it take me wherever it wants to go.  I'm trying to be open to current.  I hope it drags me somewhere good.

I can definitely say though, that I am so thankful for my parents.  I love them so much and I am so thankful that I got to spend time with them in beautiful Hawaii.  I can't wait to go on another vacation with them, and hopefully Glenny and Dolly too.  I'm a lucky girl to have these people in my life and I should never forget that.  Maybe next year we can go on another adventure together.