Falling in Love with O’ahu
‘ohana = family
‘Ohana, the Hawaiian word for family, was the word that epitomized our two-week trip to this deeply special place in August of 2023. All three of us (River, Troy and myself) fell in love with O’ahu. For Troy and me, it was not just the soul-nourishing natural beauty that overwhelmed us, but also the welcoming, engaging kindness and connection of the people here. We felt a true sense of belonging for which we were incredibly grateful.
On one of the first days of our visit, we went to Sandy Beach, where the waves were raging from the same distant hurricane which would soon whip up the wildfires in Maui. As we headed back to our car to search for gentler waters, I caught the eye of a middle-aged man toting his tiny body board back from his swim. We smiled, and he stopped to warn us of the dangers of the tides at Sandy Beach and suggested several other beaches in the area, detailing their amenities and their distance. We told him Riv was heading to UHM and he launched into more suggestions on everything from how to not get your moped stolen to where to eat cheaply. He was still thinking of ways to help us as we pulled out, gesturing for me to roll down my window so he could throw in a few more tips. I wanted to pull him into the car with us and install him as my new neighbor.
A couple of days later, Troy and I were at the UHM parents’ orientation when we decided to skip out on the remaining sessions as we’d already heard the topics we were interested in. We drove around the neighborhood and wandered into the parking lot of Lyon Arboretum. We started strolling around the grounds and stopped to admire one of the larger plants along the way. I had spied a family with two small children earlier who were also roaming the paths. Noticing our interest in the plant, the mom bounded over to us and explained its name, what it was used for and its history. She asked where we were from and when we said Colorado, she exclaimed that she went to UC Boulder for her undergraduate degree decades ago. She went back to exploring with her family, but we crossed paths a few more times over the next two hours, exchanging small talk and sharing tidbits of our lives, including that our son was headed to UHM. We all ended up back at the parking lot at the same time as a storm was threatening. As I was getting into our car, she ran up to me and told me that she knew it was hard to let your children go but that River was going to be just fine here, and then she gave me a big hug. A stranger I had talked with for maybe 10 minutes total looked me in the eye, saw what I needed, and gave it to me. I was stunned and so touched. I really, really wish I had thought to get her contact info as I would have loved to take her for coffee now that we are here, too.
These random incidences of people reaching out and wanting to genuinely connect happened again and again, every day. As our trip neared its end, Troy and I looked at each other and knew we were both feeling the same thing. We were understanding what the aloha spirit was all about, and we wanted to be part of it. As we left River behind in this paradisical place, we began to imagine what it would be like to return and live here.
While in one way, our ‘ohana was separating at the end of that trip, in another way, it was just starting to come together.
