Lei all your love on me

It's always difficult to say good-bye to a place you might never see again. Especially when that place is constantly green, located near a beach, and between 75-85 degrees year-round.

The last few weeks in Hawaii were kind of a blur. Kaddi and the kids left ten days before I did. Although they certainly won't miss Laie elementary school, the kids both had good friends that they will remember fondly. Meg probably had the hardest time saying good-bye to her primary teacher, a former member of the 80s musical group 'The Jets'. I heard her perform at the Christmas party and thought, "that beautiful mixture of pop-rhythm and melody reminds me of the The Jets." Oh, was I right.

With her well-prepared lessons and fun pizza parties, Sister Fenga gave Meg one more chance to make it real.

On our last Sunday we took part in the Aloha tradition. I confess I'd been a little worried about this since arriving in the ward. Normally you stand up at the front while the ward sings 'Aloha Hawaii,' and people come up to put leis around your neck. we hadn't been there very long and didn't know very many people. I imagined us standing up there, smiling awkwardly, while no one came up to say good-bye.

Fortunately for us, we left the same Sunday as two senior sister missionaries who were beloved by the ward. Many people passed us as they came to say good-bye to them, so it looked like the ward was truly mourning our departure. We also had a few people come up to wish us well, including our good friends Chris and Katie, who were kind enough to make beautiful flower leis for us. It was very touching.




Anyway, we spent the week getting everything cleaned up and the suitcases packed so Kaddi and the kids could make their flight to Sacramento. I heard later that they missed their flight and had to fly to Oakland and catch the shuttle to Sacramento. (That's another story for another time.) I'm not sure who was to blame, but rather than wasting a lot of time conducting a thorough investigation I just gave Jakob a thorough spanking.

Then there was nothing to keep me company but a stack of research papers and finals. I felt a little awkward going back to church by myself the next Sunday, Father's Day, especially when the ward had given us the grand sendoff the week before. I tried to sneak into the back, but was tracked down by a lovely young woman who placed a fathers-day lei around my neck and gave me a kiss on the cheek. How can one not be charmed by a tradition like that?