🌞2018 Winter Vacation
Four years ago this week, we were almost obliterated by an N. Korean Missile
The idea for today’s newsletter was triggered a memory that came from a recent news item:
Remember when we could travel? As a family, we miss it. It was a nice reward for working all year. Doing the right things. Saving a bit of money to be able to fly to a warm place in mid-winter.
We were living in Calgary, Canada at the time, where the temperatures in January average minus 6°C (20° F). This is a common headline in winter there:
About 20 years ago we asked our then 13-year-old daughter if she would like to go on a vacation to Disneyland or Hawaii. She chose Hawaii. So that has been our go-to winter holiday most years ever since. She is now all grown up.
We still really like to go to Hawaii. Waikiki more specifically. The warm water, beach, pools, restaurants, people meandering about until late.
So in about 6 hours we could go from:
to:
So in January 2018, we were at one of our favorite Waikiki breakfast spots having a brunch buffet when both my wife and myself got this text:
Looks serious. Within minutes everyone in the restaurant had the same text from the Hawaii Emergency Alert System. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. Ruh, Roh.
People started crying, demanding to leave the restaurant, which was now in a lock-down situation. Our demise was imminent. We tried phoning Canada to talk to our daughter (who was now old enough to take her own vacations) but the lines were dead.
Next, I tried my Aunt in California. She answered. I asked if she had heard the news, and if there was anything on TV about this missile from N. Korea (was the best guess of all of us). We spoke about her getting in touch with our daughter, and telling her how much we loved her. Mushy stuff, but well deserved in this situation.
When we got off the phone with Aunt Barb, I immediately headed to the pastry bar at the buffet and got a couple of sugary pastries. Anything goes in this situation. There was nothing we could do at this point, but just be in our heads, and weigh the heaviness of the situation.
Then
Thankfully we got another text 38 minutes and 5 pastries later:
So to finish up and answer THE burning question: Yes, I gave Noel a 5/5 rating for our Uber ride the day before. ✌
I’d love to hear your comments. Thank you to our new subscribers!