A Journey Home

Took my final exam for Art History on Thursday, Dec. 7th. Friday, Dec. 8th, I'm on a plane flying home to Hawaii for my dear Uncle Pablo's funeral. I'm not often in a position to go home when a family member passes away, so I'm very grateful that I was able to go home this time. It was sudden and unexpected and profoundly sad to say goodbye to my uncle. But I did get to spend some wonderful time with my dad and brothers and the rest of the clan. Even better still, since I was traveling alone, I 'popped' over to Hilo for a day to see my sister who couldn't make it since she just had a baby a month ago. I got to see my brand new nephew and his brother and sister who were both home sick from school (yes, they really were sick!). I'm so glad I went as this turned out to be such a special journey home. The time I spent with my family was priceless! My brother Roy from Tacoma and I did our best to support the local economy on Molokai and did some great shopping. On Oahu, I got in some great time with my sister in law and we did an evening and a full day of "girlie things"(my brother, Tim had to work)! Wow...dinner at a chic restaurant and the following day we went to China Town (downtown Honolulu) and I shopped and shot photos. The icing on the cake was lunch at Neiman Marcus. The best part is, all of it was ALL spontaneous! Something Jayne and I don't get to do very often. Life does have its share of unexpected moments, be they high and be they low. I'll take them all, as the 'highs' wouldn't be nearly as sweet if I didn't have the 'lows' for perspective! The water lilly and carp are from the Ala Moana Shopping Center. I am totally enthralled with the landscaping they have there; a visual feast! The Christmas tree is a Norfolk pine tree (a very, very tall tree) at the Lodge at Maunaloa on Molokai.