Well, vacation is over, and here we are again - back in good ol' Fort Worth. To all of the wonderful family members and friends who we were lucky enough to spend some time with, thank you. It is truly because of such as you that our homecoming was so memorable and, unfortunately, far too short. However, life and all of its trappings called, and I was pulled inextricably from my 'utopian' island home. Travel affords one the valuable opportunity to take stock of the place(s) we were raised.
I often need to explain my decision to attend college in Wisconsin. Certainly, Beloit is a great school with a top-notch staff of weird, crazy, liberal and brilliant professors. And the 'liberality' of Beloit and its curriculum drew me to the cold, wooded north. Still, there we other schools, warmer colleges where I could have made my academic bead for the next four years. I chose Beloit because of how different and distinctly foreign from Hawaii that it truly felt. At first, this was a mistake. Thirty degrees below zero froze the sense of adventure straight out of me.
So, what does my quirky, self-destructive (I could have died from frostbite!!) choice of schools have to do with Texas. First, I never loved Hawaii like my first Christmas vacation back home. The weather, the food, the culture. I missed so much of life on the islands that I felt dizzy with anticipation upon arrival. The same was true these last few weeks. And here's the kicker, despite the predictions of mai tais, bikinis and sun tans at Lanikai that friends, coworkers, and even I myself made for this past vacation....I only went to the beach ONCE. It rained almost everyday. Furthermore, I was swamped with appointments, parties, lunches, dinners, rounds of golf, and every other non-beach and non-"Hawaii" (well, besides the golf) things to do, that I never had a typical vacation. But who could have asked for a better one.
Therefore, I return to the idea I visited at the beginning of this rambling post. It was the people who made my homecoming great. All of these sand and sun-free outings involved those whom I hold dear. So, Merry Christmas readers. May you all receive the irreplaceable, infinite, and impossibly valuable gift of someone to share your life with this Holiday Season.
See you next time!
