Arrived

After the longest possible weekend of the summer so far, I'm finally here in Hawaii. Our good friend Cassandra and her son Gabe were visiting us Thursday and Friday, which was such a special treat! Then Saturday we got up early, early (5am to be exact) to drive to DFW. We wanted to make the rounds, and ended up fitting in Cynthia & Mark, Jen & Pat and a wonderful visit to Piccolo! Exhausted as we were, we then had to get up at 6am to get me to the airport on time to start my travels to Hawaii. All my flights when perfect, with very short layovers. It was funny, as much as I identify Hawaii as my second home, I never seem to remember quite how much myself I am here until I'm back to the place of my childhood summers and sunny Christmases. As we began to descend over the island the feeling that came over me was that of an invisible weight being lifted off of my shoulders and thinking in a small voice of relief, "home..." The only other time I experience this feeling is when I'm in a ballet class and take that first plié, and it's as if my body finally falls into itself. Like I've been hovering just beyond myself up until that point. I've missed it here. The smells, the colors, and the familiar roads. I was lucky enough to get to surprise my grandparents with my visit thanks to my wonderful Aunt & Uncle who picked me up, and kept my arrival a secret for a week! I snuck into the office where my Nana was working and said "Surprise!", waiting for her to whirl around, but instead she kept working. I tried again, a little louder, and got the same response. Finally, I walked right up to her, leaned down and said to her back, "Are you to busy for a surprise?" She immediately jumped and said "What are you doing here!?", hugged me, and then told me I should be glad she didn't have a heart attack. Pappy, in turn said "You're not real, you're a ghost!!" It feels good to be with my Ohana.