Aloha.2: 10 years later

A friend asked me before we left for Hawaii if I had set any intentions. Intentions? Intentions? I’m leaving dirty dish towels and a thousand unplanted tulips here in Little Rock. How in the world can I think about what Hawaii will look like? Honestly, that’s just my truth every day. Intentions find me, I don’t set them. I don’t really recommend it as a way of life, but I do know this: if an intention finds you, pay attention. (Yes. I know that’s improper use of the concept of  “intentions”. We’re going with it.)

When we were in Hawaii 10 years ago I kept a blog. Stories I needed to tell would tap me on the shoulder in the middle of the night. The people of St Michael’s had given Ed an iPad before we left, and I took hold. Autocorrect was new and gave me oodles of trouble, but I pushed on. The result was a collection of stories that badly needed an editor filled with reproachable misspellings that made me wince. I’m glad I have those stories. You can still find them right here at keepingupwiththewillses.blogspot.com I think.

That same intention has found me again. Maybe it’s the trade winds, maybe it’s time free of obligations. Whatever it is, stories are tapping me on the shoulder in the wee hours. 

When my children were little, Ed’s mama gave us a small wooden nativity set that (this is important) had Baby Jesus separate from the manger. Baby Jesus would be born on Christmas. Until then, everybody else would be very busy. There was traveling to be done, sheep to tend, stars to read. The manger would need hay for animals to eat.  From the first Sunday of Advent until the Epiphany, these little wooden characters would wind their way around our homes. As Mary and Joseph and the donkey made their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem, their lives became entwined with ours. It takes some time to grow a baby. We needed to make space for Baby Jesus to be born. Through the years, other characters have joined the trip.

Here we are almost 40 years later. Joseph and Mary and the donkey are traveling with my grands in their homes.

And I’m wayyyyyy out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

I know I’m spoiled. 

I’ve never not been with family on Christmas.

I cried in a store yesterday when Spice Girls Sleigh Ride came on.

For many reasons it’s a very good thing that we are right here right now. And I am not ABOUT to complain about 3 months in Hawaii! But it’s also ok to feel more than one thing at a time.

And guess what! Joseph and Mary are here traveling with me. That was pretty much my only intention I set. 

I published their first few travels on social media. Then I started getting those shoulder taps. I’m not sure anyone reads blogs anymore…but that’s ok.

These are my stories.

Aloha,

Andrea