How Did I Get Here?

Quote of the Day: “Never confuse movement with action.”

(l-r: my mystery girl, me, and my brother chopping open a coconut)

Back in the summer of 1976, my father took my brother and me to Hawaii. Our parents were divorced and we spent every summer up with my dad who lived in Seattle.

The pictures and some tidbits about the trip are here.

Last week, I got an email from my brother that simply said: remember this?

The link he provided was from the very place we stayed at back in 1976. He had wandered across the internet and at some point wondered if the place still existed. Thanks to the power of the internet, he discovered the place still operated.

Here is the letter he wrote to them…

Subject: My visit about 20 years ago

Hello, I wanted to show you some pictures of a family trip we took to your condo’s around 1976. My Dad was living in Seattle and my brother and I would fly up from Denver to spend the summers with him. In 1976 he took us to Hawaii and we stayed at Kihei Sands for a week or so. This is the only time I have been to Hawaii; I was about 9 or 10 years old. My little brother just went over 20 years in the Marine Corp (he is a Major) and has taken his family to Hawaii a couple of times.

I was surfing the internet the other day and out of curiosity I searched to see if Kihei Sands still existed and to my surprise it does!!

Me and my brother have always wanted to return to Maui and stay there and plan on doing so someday with our families. From the pictures on your webpage it still looks somewhat the same. I remember that Jason and I were playing around the pool and there were a lot of bees flying around and my brother got stung. Whenever “bee stings” come up he talks about that and says to this day it is the only time he has ever been stung. I of course just laughed at him as he was crying.

I also remember the beach. The waves were pretty small and Dad said that it was because of some island adjacent to Maui that kept the big waves away. We did go to another part of the island to see some bigger waves and actually did some body surfing.

As I get older I think about my childhood and always have fond memories of staying at Kihei Sands. It was a different world back then and as a kid things were much simpler. I just wanted to let you know that thinking about Kihei always brings a smile to my face.

Here are the closest “before” and “after” shots I could muster:

(Kathy and Dad in one of the few pictures we have of them together.)

(Thank God the front has drastically changed 30 years later)

(We ate burgers and fries but because of the long day and the time change, we could barely keep our eyes open. I remember eating this and wanting just to fall over and go to sleep.)

(Looks a little different today)

(I got my first bee sting at this pool when I stepped on a bee. I think that’s Dad sitting by the pool.)

(They’ve updated the shrubs and the pool looks a LOT bluer!)

(Chris and I washing off the salt water.)

(Another shot of the pool today.)

(Dad and I enjoy another moment alone. Notice, I blinked.)

(A sunset shot of the beach today.)

Free Advice for Today: “Call a nursing home or retirement center and ask for a list of the residents who seldom get mail or visitors. Send them a card several times a year. Sign it, ‘Someone who thinks you are very special’.”