Our Trip to Maui~Part 1

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Let me start off by saying that, after four years of college, Fred had another four years of schooling at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

During that time, his father, a U.S. Air Force Chaplain, was stationed at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, just four hours away from us. We drove over frequently to spend a weekend with them.

After they had been in Louisiana for a few years, dad was transferred to Hawaii. As Fred’s education started coming to a close, we began to think about giving ourselves a graduation present by joining them in Hawaii for a visit. We were getting really excited about that prospect.

But Uncle Sam had other ideas! In January before Fred graduated in May, dad was promoted again and reassigned to Wright-Patterson AFB, in Dayton, Ohio. It was quite a bit of culture shock to go from tropical Hawaii to winter in Ohio in a few short weeks!

And there went our dream of a Hawaiian vacation! Shucks!

Fast forward about 39 years – boy that really zipped by, didn’t it? Fred’s parents were living in an assisted-living facility in Washington State. They had thought to make a trip to Maui for a week in a time-share owned by their youngest daughter and her husband, but needed/wanted some of the family to be with them to sort-of keep an eye on them. Since Fred and I were retired at the time, we graciously volunteered for that job. Really had to twist our arms to do that, right??!!

Two weeks before we were scheduled to depart, Fred’s mother, already afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease, had a major set-back. She was placed in the Special Care Unit of the facility, where there were trained staff to care for her.

Since Fred’s dad had been trying care for her by himself – and he was encouraged not to visit her for a few weeks so she would become adjusted to her new home – we decided to go ahead with our plans. Frankly, he needed the rest from all that stress.

So Fred and I flew to Seattle, rented a car and dropped our luggage at the hotel where we would be staying for just one night. We drove to Shelton, an hour’s drive away, and spent the rest of the day with Fred’s mother, father, sister and her husband. We three then drove back to Seattle for the night, as our flight out was quite early the next morning.

In spite of being on the West Coast, the non-stop flight was really long to Maui. We arrived at the Kahului airport in the capital of Maui.

We had arranged for a rental car, picked it up, stopped by the Costco nearby and picked up groceries for the mornings we would be there. We planned on partaking of all the wonderful island foods for lunches and dinners.

~~~~More to Come~~~~

Tags: Air Force, Christian bloggers, Christianity, Hawaii, Maui, Military Life, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary