Aloha!

To say that I am beyond blessed to be able to go is an understatement. As you can see my next assignment is in Honolulu, Hawaii! I know its 48 hours and is a night shift but I’m going to make the most of it. My mom said that if I even just had one day a week that it would be worth it. We will see how that goes. Obviously I am going to try this blog out again. I have gotten several comments from friends that asked what happened to it. Well I got busy and lazy, but mostly lazy. I have so many thoughts in my head and then I go to write them down and half the time I go blank or I just get sick of writing the all out. I am going to give you a taste of the first two days because the post to follow will be all about QUARENTINE!

Saturday 12/26:

I got to start my day off at 3:30am! I had 3 different flights and 15 hours total of traveling with the longest flight being only 6 hours. Omaha to Denver and Denver to LAX went off without a hitch. Oh wait, I did almost miss my flight in Omaha because I was getting a coffee and the barista was taking longer than I anticipated. Thankfully I made it right before they closed the doors. I love flights because as a child that’s how I thought God would see the world. I thought that heaven was just above the clouds and when God looked down He got an aerial view. So flying over the Rockies was something else. It left me in awe and I knew that that moment would be one of many times God would take away my breath with His creation on this trip. In LAX my arrival gate and departure gate were literally right next to each other. It truly was a traveler’s dream except I had a three-hour layover so I needed to kill some time. LAX has an odd set up with multiple levels so my curiosity didn’t take me too far in case I got super lost. After getting an overpriced coffee I decided to plant myself at my gate and read. For Christmas my brother gave me “The Lamb’s Supper”, a book that shows the correlation of the Book of Revelation and the Mass. In New Orleans I fell in love with the mass and this is one of the books that Father Andrew recommended to me. My brother, Andrew, was not impressed with my Christmas present wish but I will tell you, that was my favorite present I received.

While I was reading a young dad holding a sleeping two-year-old was trying to find a seat. He put the little girl in the stroller and she kept tilting forward and almost falling out. In normal circumstances I would have offered the seat that my bag was on, or even my seat if none were available, right away, but COVID makes everything harder. There are signs everywhere for social distancing and normally there is at least one seat labeled as “blocked off” for COVID. I know COVID is a real problem but it is making even me question kindness in fear that someone would take it the wrong way. I moved my bag and offered him the seat. The look of relief that passed on his face, made me know that I did the right thing. Like any old airport conversation would go, we talked about where we came from and where we were going. He was a marine that had been stationed in Oahu for 2 years so I picked his brain on what to do. It came up in conversation a few times that he would show me around but I brushed it off. As my mom would say, STRANGER DANGER! A good 30 min into this conversation I realized that I knew his daughters name but I had never introduced myself nor did I know his name. I then introduced myself and his name was Joseph. Let me preface this subsequent perceived idiocrasy with a side note; Through this past year I have taken St Joseph as my intercessor or as Annamarie puts it “ride or die” and put a lot of intentions in his hands. I’ve put not only my own life but the lives of my patients and loved ones in his hands. Arch Bishop Lucas put the diocese of Omaha in his hands at the beginning of the pandemic and Pope Francis just put this next year in his hands. So I’m on a kick that St Joseph has my back because of all the wonders I have experienced through his intercession. So as idiotic that this may sound, I trusted this stranger because of his name. So the next time he offered to do something on the island I gave him my number so we could actually make plans. After boarding I didn’t see him again.

I wish I could say it was an uneventful flight but obviously I can’t be normal. About hour four I had woken up from a cat nap and needed to go to the bathroom. Still a little disorientated I was having troubles opening both bathroom doors. It took me shaking both doors to realize they were both occupied. My embarrassment did not end there. I waited until someone came out and then had to go back. I came out of the bathroom and looked down and I had toilet paper on my shoe!! Like not a little but a whole bunch. I had to bend down and take it off and then go do the walk of shame, back to the bathroom to wash my hands. I sat down and prayed that that would be the end of my day. Psych! While debarking I about knocked someone in the head with my backpack, then proceeded to lose my ID (thankfully found on my person than on the plane) and then get stopped by security because they needed a manager to verify my exemption. I was supposed to get COVID testing upon arrival but my plane was delayed and they stopped testing about thirty minutes prior. Thankfully after that I made it back without any hitches. To my surprise Joseph texted me that night and asked if I wanted to go hiking the following day with his friends. I said a quick prayer and then replied yes. Well day one in Hawaii is done and we will see where the rest of this adventure goes!

Sunday 12/27:

Switching to island time might take a few because this morning I woke up at 3am my time but my body was in central time at 7am. After fighting with sleep for two hours I finally got up and ready for mass. It was a 6am mass at St Augustine by the Sea. Mass was a perfect start to my day because when it ended, the sun was just peaking up. I cannot believe that I get to live this life for the next three months. After going home and changing I made my way back to the ocean. There I marveled at the beauty that was before me. God even gave me a rainbow to once again remind me of His love. I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity that I was in paradise and this would become my new normal. Sadly, I had to leave the beach and go get a COVID test for the hospital. Right after though, I was right back in the water. My new friend, Joseph, cancelled but said that his friends were still going hiking that afternoon. I once again took a leap of faith and said yes. As I drove up the mountain I kept praying that no one would come down. The road was two lanes but people were parking on the side. At times I knew that if I stopped I may not be able to continue forward. I thankfully made it to the park with the trailhead. I saw a car pull up with two guys and a girl that matched the description I was given. Larry, Shane and Chika were all prepared with their boots and packs. They looked like avid hikers so I hoped that I could keep up. We were doing the Wa ‘ahali trail to Mt Olympus. We didn’t make it all the way to the peak but we got some beautiful views. Hiking here was not like anything I’ve ever experienced. We were climbing up rocks, sliding down the muddy path and straddling the ridge. Hawaii is known for its dynamic ecosystems and I got to experience some of them first hand. My new friends were even interesting and dynamic. The boys remind me of my mom’s family because neither of them stopped talking. Chika was conversational as well but sometimes her and I would just walk while listening to the boys banter. Obviously I am writing this now, so they did not kill me in the forest. Larry is leaving the island tomorrow but I do hope to go hiking with Chika and Shane again.

We had to turn around because it was getting time for the sun to go down and we were all famished. I told them that I would eat anything so we planned on going somewhere local. While driving down the mountain the boys honked at me and notified me of my flat tire. I thought I was actually going to have an uneventful day! Fat chance of that ever happening. Thankfully Larry changed the tire in 10min and we were on our way to dinner. For dinner we tried to stop at two restaurants but they had hours in waiting time. We ended up at a Korean restaurant where it was endless meat that you cooked by yourself. There we met another couple that were friends with Larry and actually from Hawaii. At the end of the night I was dead and all I wanted was a shower and bed. I thank God for the adventure and the friends He gave to me today. Hopefully this is a foretaste of the time to come.