Sunday, August 31, 2008

there's always room for one more

God has a plan for each of us

No room in the inn?

It has been over a week since I've posted ... and for several posts before I stopped, all I had written about was our Honeymoon - 25th Wedding Anniversary - Current August 13 Anniversary Celebration in Hawai'i. I will complete some of that, too, soon.

Life has not been without the usual busyness, as well as some extra busyness - ergo, no posts. Besides regular work days and various ministry activities, I have embarked on an adventure which I've reference a few times in the last couple of months - that being the remodeling of the added-on to the back-of-the-house TV and laundry room [not added on by current residents but by those prior to us]. It has been consuming the few hours extra I'm able to steal in the course of a week. And it is finally starting to look like something is being accomplished - that makes my wife happy which makes me happy ... but it is a slow process.

The B I G event of the past week is a new member to our household. No-o-o-o-o-o, it isn't a household pet [ie: dog, cat, bird, etc.]. It is a human being. No-o-o-o-o-o, it isn't a baby, either - we've raised our kids and, while we've talked of adoption and/or foster-care, we've not done that, either.

We've gained a 22-year old recent college graduate, who, upon approaching graduation, realized she didn't want to leave our town while her fiance was taking another year to complete his degree. She wanted, if possible, to find a good Christian living situation for herself - that is, a Christian environment in which to live...with a family or couple, and thereby provide that biblical hedge between her and that which so much permeates the culture around us.

They both are committed Catholic Christians and are working very hard to remain pure for their marriage next May 2009 - and beyond. She was referred to us by the DRE [Director of Religious Education] at the Campus Newman Apostolate parish where she is an active member.

So how does such a referral come about? and how does one make such a decision and choice? Well, first, the DRE knew us through our recently ordained nephew with whom she struck up a friendship while she was working on her Masters in Theology at the seminary at which our nephew was studying. She learned that we've done this before. This young woman is the tenth early twenties woman with whom we've shared our home in the past 15 or so years.

If you've ever shared living arrangements with anyone, you'll already recognize that it is not always easy ... and that applies whether it is a husband and wife, or any other related or un-related people. We've been there before, so we've tried to prepare for the difficulties that can arise with personalities, life-styles, habits, preferences, etc.

There were friends of ours who experienced some extreme financial difficulties - they lost their house and their small business. We let them move in with us until they could get on their feet. That lasted several months, to the best of my memory. That was 15 years ago - and we're still friends. In other words, people can decide to get along, even in difficult situations.

There was another time we took in 2 of 5 children from one family. The mother needed a lengthy hospitalization [8 weeks] and the dad needed to work. SO, we and two other families took in the children and kept them until things got back to normal for them. We think this is normal Christian living and think more people ought to be doing it, too. Share what the Lord has given - make room for others in the Inn.

Living together and renting a room are very different things. We are not perfect beings, and with all the years we have under our wings, we have definite patterns of life and behaviors long developed. But, we are very willing to work at it, bending where necessary to make it work - and she is, also. So, we'll give it go and see if we can all survive until her wedding next May.

Well, I gotta get back to sanding some dry-wall 'mud'. I've promised this job done by Thanksgiving. The walls get done all the way around, first - than the floor gets done with a laminate hardwood pattern material - then the ceiling gets redone [??tile, drop-in, drywall, suspended?? - not sure which yet]. If we decide to put drywall on the ceiling, then that would require painting - and that would cause us to do the ceiling before the floor.

Pray for us.
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Friday, August 22, 2008

...may they rest in peace

2403 men, women, and children killed—and 1178 wounded

USS Arizona
. . . . . . . . . .
On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941 the Imperial forces of the nation of Japan waged a deadly and devastating attack on the forces of the United States of America on the island of Oahu in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Now we come from all over the world to visit this memorial, this monument, this tomb. We simply refer to it as 'Pearl Harbor'.
. . . . .names of the U.S. Navy forces entombed in the USS Arizona
. . . . .
On Monday morning, August 11, 2008 we rose before 5am. We readied ourselves and made our way to the Hotel's Kuhio Beach Grill Breakfast Buffet. Some were apparently there when the doors opened at 5am. We arrived at 5:20am and found the room half full already - and this was before 5:30am on a Monday.

After completing our breakfast feast, we made our way to the 'Tours Lobby' area of the hotel. This is where tour buses picked-up and dropped off their pre-ticketed passengers. This was a very efficient and very well thought out part of the life and design of this tourist resort. We arranged tickets the day before at one of the Hotel's several Concierge stations.

O
ur bus was scheduled to pick us up at 6:15am. It was on time, but a member of a group of 13 men, women, children had not found her way down from her room - and the rest of us waited. The driver was very polite and courteous - and very emphatic ... someone needed to find this person and get her to the bus. Every minute we delayed would mean we'd be 15 - 20 people farther back in the line at the gate. The woman showed up within moments of that pronouncement.

Monday morning ... 6:30am ... highway H-1 from the east side of Honolulu at Waikiki Beach to Pearl Harbor on the west side of Honolulu ... traffic not unlike many large metropolitan cities on the mainland ... a driver who seemed to know the route and the traffic blindfolded - it all added up to a trip at unbelievable speed, considering the traffic and congestion. We arrived at the Pearl Harbor Visitors Gate by 6:50am - we were the second small tour bus to arrive. We were in the first 25 or so people in the line. By 7:15am, less than half an hour later, the line was almost around the block.
. . . . .
Once we were through the Visitors Center, and after watching a short film on the story of the attack, we were transported by passenger launch to the memorial itself.

Above is the entrance to the memorial, directly over the remains of the sunken destroyer USS Arizona [seen below], the tomb for those personnel still on board when it was sunk.

. . . . .

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

blessed be the Lord's Day

...out one side door and into the next

Sunday Mass not 100 feet away

It didn't take much effort to walk to church on Sunday morning. There was a 6am, 8:30am, and 11am Mass directly across the street from the hotel - we made it to the 8:30am celebration.
. . . . .
St. Augustine By-the-sea Roman Catholic Church
- Waikiki Beach, HI -

. . . . .
[in the extreme upper right corner of the picture you can see the form of 5 or 6 balconies on the hotel - that is how close we were.]
. . . . .
The celebrant was a native Hawi'ian priest ... at least he sure looked like it - and then he opened his mouth and spoke ... his accent was NOT Hawai'ian. Now, he did have native relatives on the island and that is why he was there - he was on vacation visiting relatives. His home parish, he told us, was an African-American parish in Oakland CA. There were a lot of vacationers in the church that morning, besides him.

As a note of some interest to some, Sen. Barach Obama was also on the island all week on vacation with his family and visiting relatives - and causing an uproar wherever he went. He visited old friends, and the High School he attended, and lots of other 'photo-op' locations - and he played golf several times. The rest of us went about our own agendas.

After Mass we went back across the street to our piece of Paradise and found our way the the big breakfast buffet at the hotel. Let me tell you, I've not seen a bigger spread than this. And because of the high percentage of Japanese visitors to the island, there was ample opportunity to try foods we don't see on our table at home ... at least Rozann tried some ... I stuck to bacon and eggs and pancakes and waffles and fruit and juice and coffee and pastry and ham and fried potatoes and sausage and cereals and...

The doors opened at 5am each morning. We were there bright and early every morning of our stay, between 5-6:30am, except that first day we went to Mass first. Then we could get a good and timely start on our day.

People of Praise, an ecumenical charismatic covenant community with 22 branches in North America, has a branch in Kailua, on the eastern windward side of the island. We are members of a People of Praise branch in our hometown - Muncie, IN. At 2:30pm they were scheduled to have a weekly branch meeting which includes prayer and singing and sharings and fellowship. We were going to be there and meet some new people ... and see some others whom we already knew. It was a wonderful way to spend a Lord's Day afternoon.

After the meeting, we went to dinner with several of the local members. By the time we ate and talked and drank and talked, it was time for us to head back to our south side of the island location before darkness set in.

As we were still somewhat sleep deprived from the trip over, we went directly to the hotel. We ordered up a 'pay-per-view' movie and watched the latest Indiana Jones outing. I think we both fell to sleep while it played.

Our first full day in paradise was over. Tomorrow it would be time to start seeing the sights. Our tour bus to Pearl Harbor was scheduled to pick us up at 6:15am ... and we needed to eat breakfast before that.
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Sunday, August 17, 2008

keepin' on keepin' on

the inevitability of things not going according to plan

Aloha, y'all - Part 2
. . . . . . . . . .

American Airlines terminal at Honolulu
. . . . .

...and then God said

Landing in Honolulu was quite exciting.

First, it meant we 'made it".

Second, it confirmed that the 'Garden of Eden' [aka: Paradise] was not created anywhere near the Tigris or Euphrates rivers - it was on an Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The light puffy clouds, the sunny bright-blue sky, the multi-shades-of-blue color of the surrounding waters, the palm trees, the beautiful green of the plant-life on the sides of the great volcanic mountains, the sandy beaches, the dark-tanned complexion of inhabitants, the seemingly genuine greetings from all whom we encountered ... "ALOHA", and the sincere "Mahalo" affirming their gratitude for our being there - all of this testifying to the surreal sense of being in paradise.

But, of course, just when we had assured ourselves that all was wonderful, then we had to deal with the real world ... again.
. . . . .
We found our way out from the air-line's terminal to the 'Rental Car' bus-stop. Once on board the bus for our rental car company, we were ready to take on renown traffic congestion from the Airport [west of Honolulu] to the Waikiki Beach area [east of Honolulu]. All our arrangements for this trip had been made last March - plenty of time for anyone involved to have things ready for our arrival ... or not.

We knew gasoline prices on the mainland were high ... and we had been told in advance that prices for everything in Hawai'i would be higher - significantly higher. Trying to respond defensively, we had reserved an 'economy-class' car to drive while we were on the Island.

Apparently, so had everyone else who had arrived before us that day. None were available.

Upgrade? Would we be interested in an upgrade? Sounded like the old 'bait and switch' to me. "How much extra?", I asked.

"Extra? Why would you think that?", she responded. "There will be no extra charge. We don't have the vehicle your requested. The upgrade is 'on us'. No extra charge."

Paradise? Maybe we were there after all. My mainland cynicism had gotten me ahead of the reality. Of course we'd be glad to accept an upgrade. "What kind of vehicles would be available?", I asked. "How about a 4-wheel drive Jeep Wrangler - get you off-road onto the more secluded beaches and sites?"

Damn the gasoline prices - we were taking the upgrade!
. . . . .
H1 highway from Airport through the city
. . . . .

It was still daylight when we arrived at our hotel - the luxurious Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort and Spa. It truly lived up to the reputation we expected. When we planned this trip, this is exactly what I was sure we'd never be able to afford - but we did it any ways.

After all, we were celebrating our never-before-taken honeymoon, our 25th wedding anniversary, and our current anniversary on Wednesday the 13th. This was absolutely the ideal.

Hotel Entrance
. . . . .

I pulled up into the Arrival entry lane and was faced with my second major decision [the vehicle upgrade was the first] - to 'self-park' or to 'valet park' or to find a lot or garage a couple of blocks away for much less of a daily fee [maybe]. Being the big spender that I had already exhibited with renting a gas-guzzling Jeep, I ventured into the world of 'Valet' parking ... at least for the first night.

Marriott situated this resort directly across the street from the eastern end of Waikiki Beach on 5.2 acres of luxuriously landscaped and manicured grounds. The rooms were in two separate towers - one with 25 floors and the other with 33 floors ... and all the rooms had balconies with beautiful views.

Hotel lobby . . . . . . . . . . . . Sunset from inside room


. . . . . . . . . . . . . View from balcony . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . .

It was now after 7:30pm Hawai'i time [1:30am back in Indianapolis], the sun was beginning to set, and we had not eaten any dinner. Time to check in and get something to eat.

Check in went flawlessly. Our room was almost beyond expectations. The view from our room on the 26th floor was mind-numbing. And our stomachs wanted to visit Paradise - one block away was a 'Cheeseburger-in-Paradise' restaurant. Off we went in search of the perfect bed-time snack. It was 9:30pm in Honolulu [3:30am in Indianapolis] when we returned to our room and fell into bed.

See y'all tomorrow ... today is over.

[to be continued]
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another second chance

My Way Sunday
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
modern technology

[Thanks to my dear wife, we are able to reproduce some of the pictures we took, as would be typical of what you would see on a trip like this.]
. . . . . . . . . .
Aloha, y'all - Part 1

. . . . .
our base of operations
. . . . .
Common Hawai'ian Words:

aloha - love, hello, welcome, goodbye
hale - house
kane - man
luau - traditional Hawaiian feast
mahalo - thank you
mauka - a directional, toward the mountans
makai - a directional, toward the sea
pau - finished, complete
poi - staple food made from taro
wahine - woman
lei - garland, usually of flowers, but also of leaves or shells
. . . . .Diamond Head crater rim
. . . . .

We experienced a wonderful celebration of our time together. We visited most of the island in our 5-days and 5-nights there. We saw typical tourists sites and we visited with a number of friends who live on the island in the Kailua area [eastern windward side of the island].

We visited only the Island of O'ahu, which is home to Honolulu, the state capital. It is not the biggest of the islands in the state, but is the most inhabited.
. . . . .looking east towards Waikiki Beach [in distance]
. . . . .

The island of O'ahu is divided into five main parts:
  1. Waikiki/Honolulu Side: contains Honolulu International Aiport, Waikiki Beach, Pearl Harbor, Manoa Falls, University of Hawaii, Diamond Head Beach Park, Ala Moana Beach Park, Hanauma Bay State Park, KoKo Head Mountain, Sandy Beach Park, just to mention a few.
  2. Windward Shore: contains Kailua Beach Park, Lanikai Beach, Polynesian Cultural Center, Kaneohe Beach Park, Chinaman's Hat, the Mormon Temple, just to mention a few.
  3. North Shore: contains Turtle Bay Resort, Sunset Beach, Waimea Bay Beach Park, Waimea Falls and Gardens Hike, Turtle Beach/Laniakea Beach, Hidden Beach, just to mention a few.
  4. Leeward Shore: Kahe Point Beach Park, Makaha Beach, Ko Olina Resort and Marina, Waianae, Kaneana Cave, just to mention a few.
  5. Central O'ahu: contains the Dole Plantation,Wahiawa Botanical Garden, World's Largest Maze, just to mention a few.
at the Dole Plantation
. . . . .

In The beginning

On Friday night August 8, we stayed the night at an Indianapolis hotel near the airport. We needed to be at the airport at 7am to begin our adventure - and an adventure it truly was ... right from the beginning.

The plane was full.

Our itinerary was to take us from Indianapolis to Dallas to Honolulu - all via American Airlines.

Our first Indianapolis plane never left the gate.

A mechanical problem with a hydraulic pump left us stuck there. No replacement pump was available locally. The nearest was in Chicago. They could, and would, get one to Indianapolis in several hours, but that was a sure way to miss all those connections out of Dallas for many of those on board - including us.

All passengers whose final destination was Dallas - Ft Worth [DFW] were set aside as a seperate group. They would be placed on other flights going to or through DFW. Those who were making connections through DFW, like us going to Hawai'i, were then worked with individually to place on other flights to get us to where we were intending to go.

American Airlines
. . . . .

The net result for us was a rearranged itinerary - new flight plans and new time-table. We were now getting to Hawai'i by adding a stop.

Indianapolis to Chicago
Chicago to LosAngeles
Los Angeles to Honolulu

Our arrival in Honolulu was originally scheduled for 3:40pm Honolulu time [6 hours behind, or 9:40pm Indianapolis]. Our new arrival time was now set for 5:55pm Honolulu time [11:55pm Indianapolis] - only 2:15 behind our original schedule. Not too bad. Our arrival in Chicago was just in time to make our connection. The flight to LosAngeles was in the process of boarding when we arrived at the gate - but we made it.
[to be continued]
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Saturday, August 16, 2008

dunce

Any Way Saturday
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
We got home last evening.
After having had no sleep for 33 hours straight, I half-way unpacked and went to bed around 9:30pm and slept until 8:16am this morning.
Then my lovely wife woke me up and reminded me that I had volunteered to help set-up the hall [tables and chairs] for the wedding reception this afternoon.
We finished that - went to the wedding at 11am ... to the reception that lasted until 4pm ... helped clean-up the hall ... came home and went to the 5:30pm evening vigil mass and came home.
I sat down at the computer.

It was my intention to post some pictures from our 25th wedding anniversary trip to the Hawaiian Island of Oahu.
I took almost 30o great pictures - make that probably closer to 250 great pictures - keepers - and another 50 of the trash-can variety.
and started to download these 300 great pictures.
There were some other older pictures from an earlier June wedding, so I wanted to delete those older pictures.

Can you guess what happened next?

And now the media card is empty.
And you don't get to see any of those 300 great pictures ... and neither will any of my kids ... or other friends ... or my wife [who is at the grocery store while I stayed behind to download these 300 great pictures].

Have a great Saturday.

When I get over this, I'll try to post some comments about the trip.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Aloha y'all

Any Way Saturday
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
into the deep blue of sub-orbital space
[well, not really - but why not imagine]
Waikiki, here we come
. . . . .
This is actually being written Friday evening from the lobby 'Business Center' of a hotel near the Indianapolis International Airport. We are checked in here for the night. A shuttle will take us to the airport early tomorrow [Saturday] morning. We'll be picked up around 6:45am, fly to Dallas to change planes, then go over the big waters to the little islands of Hawaii, and finally arrive at our room at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa around 10 - 11pm Saturday night - a loooooong day.
I D I D N O T bring my lap-top [not my idea] ... so I am at the mercy of my wife and the availability of computer internet services once we're there. I am looking forward to this 'honeymoon & anniversary trip'.
On our agenda includes: Pearl Harbor, the beach, a luau, the beach, visiting friends in Kailua, the beach, seeing some of the central island beauty via the over-the-top higways between Honolulu [southern shore] and Kailua [eastern shore], the beach, celebrating our actual anniversary on Wednesday the 13th, the beach, whatever providence throws our way, and the beach...
I'll try to check in periodically ... but if that doesn't happen much, we'll be back to IN on Friday afternoon.
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. . . . .
Don't let the Chinese fool you. This whole Olympics things can still be about the athletes if we don't make it political, too.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

age has a lot to do with appropriateness

Cause Way Thursday
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This one's for me
2-day 'fast & purge' ends today
. . . . .
One of the great things about growing a little older are the new medical examinations and procedures I get to encounter. This afternoon I get to experience what many of my friends, including my wife, have already experienced - a colonoscopy. I am told many lives have been saved because of this one examination procedure.

The last solid food I ate was at supper-time on Tuesday. Since then it has been only clear liquids - a minimum of 12-oz every hour. Oh, and then there has been the most gosh awful stuff I've had to drink. Starting at 8am Wednesday morning I had a 12-oz magnesium citrate solution cocktail - then, 9 hrs later at 5pm I drank a solution of 1.5-oz phospha-soda in a clear liquid cocktail - then this morning at 8:30am I drank another solution of 1-oz phospha-soda in a clear liquid cocktail. All this in an effort to 'purge' my lower digestive systems for the examination.

At 9:15am I am to stop drinking everything. At that point it is 'no food and no drink' until sometime after the procedure is completed and I'm out of recovery - probably about 3:30-4:00pm. I put that to be about 46 hours after my last solid food.

Side-effect to all this: I've already lost about 7 pounds in fluids and other stuff since I weighed in on Tuesday. Say a prayer for me - OK?
. . . . . . . . . .

Update 8:25 pm: Procedure went well. Results: 3 polyps - all removed ... appear non-threatening ... will await results of biopsy of polyps; diverticula found ... not currently causing any known problems ... to be treated with awareness, diet, and medical management. Return in 5-years if biopsies OK. Thanks for the prayers.
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The 2008 Teen Choice Awards
A Porthole into Their World
by Jonathan R. McKee
. . . . .
The annual Teen Choice Awards (TCAs) always provides an eye-opening glimpse into the world of youth culture. And the 2008 show was the cleanest we've seen in years!

Don't get me wrong, this year's show still awarded racy TV shows that kids shouldn't be watching in the first place, movies they can't get into, and celebs who shouldn't be role models... that's a given. But the show itself was a breath of fresh air compared to past years.

This year the TCAs were hosted by Miley Cyrus, making the two hour television experience a huge draw for not only teens, but tweens and young kids as well. So I was extremely pleased (and surprised) when the show that has, in past years, twice topped the Parents Television Council's "Worst Family TV Show of the Week" went over 60 minutes without any racy performances or adult humor.

Yes... 60 minutes is only halfway through the show. That's when they introduced Mariah Carey. (Need I say more?) Mariah was present in her archetypal streetwalker apparel and singing her typical risqué lyrics. She performed her song "Love You Long Time" (with small excerpts of her hit song "Touch My Body" in the mix). Here's a tidbit of the lyrics she sang to the... dare I say... "children" in the audience:

Touch my body.... Touch my body....

...Addictive just can't get enough
And every time I'm with you I want some more
Just close the door
And let's explore each other
And a little later in the song...

Scoop me up and we can go
To that little spot where no one knows
Spend a little time just us alone
You can caress my body and never let go
Not exactly the kind of thing I would want an adult saying to my kids. But that's Mariah.

Mariah aside, the show itself kept a pretty clean slate for 2008 (hey... that's kind of catchy).

But there's a bigger issue at hand here: the content behind all these names. In other words, what is all this stuff that kids voted for that they are watching and listening to?


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Tuesday, August 5, 2008

who was that masked man?

Late Way Tuesday
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
there ain't enough time in the day
a cloud of dust, and a hearty...

The past week has disappeared. Four weeks ago, the starter's gun was fired - my wife tore up, as in unfastened from the floor, the TV room carpet. When I arrived home, there were 225 sq. ft. of carpet cut up into 3' x 4' foot rectangles and stacked in a pile near the rear entry / exit door.

More years ago than I'm going to reveal here, we moved into 'this old house' and made a 5-yr and a 10-yr plan for remodeling / refurbishing / cleaning-up / freshening-up the various rooms. One of those high on the list needing work was the back-of-the-house added-on TV room ... which also doubles for a laundry room in one corner.

Well, life intervened. Most every room in the house has had some paint or wallpaper or carpet or tile or something done to it - all except this back-of-the-house added-on TV room. I guess I had to expect to come home and find this sight one day.

I am now trying to find 'an hour here' and 'an hour there' and maybe '2 or 3 hours elsewhere' and have begun the process. The finished project will include drywall / plasterboard all the way around [over the top of some knotty pine 3/4" thick wood-plank paneling], a new floor covering to replace those 3' x 4' rectangles my wife stacked-up, and some sort of a new ceiling [drywall??? acoustic tiles? or whatever else we can agree upon....].

A rather large closet / storage area [7' x 2-1/2'] has been ripped out, exposing original wood siding where this back-of-the-house added-on TV room was conjoined with the original part of 'this old house'. I had to fabricate a faux-wall there to which I have now fastened drywall. Approximately 1/2 of the drywall in the room is hung. One third of that has been mudded and sanded [thus the "cloud of dust"]. A new entry / exit door has been installed to the backyard, and a new door has been installed between the back-of-the-house added-on TV room and the kitchen. And in 4 weeks time, that is as far as I've gotten. Give me a break, OK?

My goal is to have it done by Thanksgiving. Anyone taking bets? Every 2 hour job I've attempted has taken 4 - 6. So an evening's work takes 2 or 3 evenings. But I will get it done. If you've got some old grubby clothes to wear and you happen to be coming near the neighborhood, give me a call - I'll put you to work.

A casualty has been the time and energy to get something posted here at 'a second chance.'

Most days I still try to find a few minutes to look a few others' posts, and maybe add a brief comment - or not.
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows, starring in...
"The Honeymooners"

ain't it about time?
. . . . . . . . . .
The missus and I had never taken an official 'honeymoon'. We were married on a Saturday morning [I got there late but she waited]. Then after an early afternoon reception, we disappeared and drove 2-1/2 hours to Cleveland, OH and spent the night at a Holiday Day Inn in downtown near Terminal Square [long since been torn down and replaced with something else]. We found a church on Sunday morning, had a late breakfast-brunch, and headed back to Toledo to our new home, an upstairs apartment in a converted old house in the north-end Polish neighborhood. Then it was back to work on Monday morning - and we ain't hardly stopped to take a deep breath much ever since.

Somewhere around our 10th anniversary, we set a goal for ourselves. For our 25th wedding anniversary we would go to Hawaii - we'd celebrate 25 years of love and family and happiness and ... well, I think you get the picture ... and we'd finally get our honeymoon.

Like many of our goals, we didn't reach that one by the time-table we'd imagined, but we never gave-up. Next week on August 13 we will be celebrating our xxth anniversary ... and we're going to have our honeymoon - at last. While you think of us, we'll think of you [well, maybe not] while we swelter in the sun and heat on Waikiki
Beach on the isalnad of Oahu in Hawaii with the majestic Diamond Head as a backdrop. Our resort accommodations will have an ocean view and the breeze will bring welcome relief from the snow we'll be experiencing in a few months back home in Indiana.

Here's to all the young-old lovers out there! Dreams can come true. She got hers ... [and I got mine].
. . . . . . . . . .
One of Oahu’s greatest attractions lies on the southeast coast at the ending point of Waikiki Beach. Diamond Head Hawaii is an extinct and commanding volcano named after a misunderstanding by explorers from the west. While exploring Diamond Head Oahu the explorers thought they had found diamonds, but had really mistaken shining calcite crystals at the extinct volcano to be true diamond gems.
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