Friday Remembers

When I was 6 I was sick. I don't remember what the heck was the matter with me. Not deathly ill but I wasn't getting any better. Maybe Scarlett Fever? Anyways... my parents put me on a plane to Hawaii to stay with my grandparents on Maui. Mom said I needed sun and rest. (Side note right here: B is randomly playing "Oh what a beautiful morning" on her computer and that was my favorite song that Granddad used to sing to me.... I was going to get to that...that girl has perfect timing...) My grandparents built their house on Maui on Ahinahina Place about half the way up Haleakala. Granddad was retired from the Army and here in Maui he had a Protea plantation where he grew and cultivated flowers for the farmer's markets:

Their place was magical for me. Granddad had a rock wall made of lava rocks found on their property. When he was building it he built in a seat into the wall for me so I could sit out there with him. Grandmere had a little box of tiny toy animals and I would play with them out on the deck...so carefully. At the end of his day Granddad would lift me up into the hammock and we would sway back and forth and he would sing to me, mostly show tunes. I would just soak up the sun and think to myself: I never want to go home. I want to stay right here forever.... as I'm scraping this dang paint of this very old house in Pearlington-- it feels like Hawaii felt to me. The air, the warmth, the birds. I very much like having nothing more to worry about than scraping paint in the sun, laughing on the deck and having the wind blow on by. I don't think I ever want to go home.

So with that, I don't really have anything else to blog about. Just some pictures to share: