A Lesson in Grief
Treasuring the Memories that Pop Up
You never know when they will surface….
On Sunday, during some random scrolling through my Facebook feed, I saw a picture of one of my most favorite drives — the switchback road to Hana. The first time I traveled that road was on the back of a motorcycle in 1970 when I began my first teaching job on Maui. There were many wonderful trips along that road over the years, staying overnight at the parks, swimming in roadside pools, and walking the black sand beaches.
What triggered the memory was a virtual walking challenge on the road to Hana. Virtual? Why not try it?
Turns out there’s an app for that. I would walk 64 miles (virtually) with whatever exercise I wanted. I’d do my step monitor on my phone since I needed to up my exercise after a pretty sedentary winter. Why not?
Then I started to geek out. Maps!!!! I found where I used to live, where the high school was in Kahului, all the new beaches on this section of the north coast, the airport — and things that were brand new since my last trip to the island in 1996. University of Hawaii has a campus on Maui now — but that won’t take away from my six-week-course spent at the East-West Center at UH on Oahu (getting stopped by police on a “shady corner” in Honolulu — that’s another time….).
