Next Stop: The Sandwich Islands

When Captain James Cook “discovered” the islands of Hawai’i in 1778, he named them after the Earl of Sandwich. Hence, for a time, they were known around the Western World as the Sandwich Islands. (If I hadn’t just totally pigged out on a hotel breakfast—because for some unknown and, I’m sure, extraordinarily peculiar reason, I LOVE hotel food—that name might just make me hungry for a Cheeseburger in Paradise.)

…Now--huge egg, sausage, and pineapple breakfast not withstanding--I'm hungry. And I just found out on the web that they have a Cheeseburger in Honolulu. Sorry to my wife, who loves that place more than I, but this big daddy just may have to drag the chief down there before we head out tomorrow. 

Mark Twain (Students: you might as well learn who he was, as we will be reading his stuff soon enough.) was particularly fond of the “sandwich” name for Hawai’i, and I presume from the favorable tenor of his writing that he was greatly fonder of the islands themselves. I quote him here, as his sentiments about this incredibly beautiful place echo my own.

“I spent several months in the Sandwich Islands, six years ago, and, if I could have my way about it, I would go back there and remain the rest of my days. It is paradise for an indolent man. If a man is rich he can live expensively, and his grandeur will be respected as in other parts of the earth; if he is poor he can herd with the natives, and live on next to nothing; he can sun himself all day long under the palm trees, and be no more troubled by his conscience than a butterfly would” (Twain).

Every time my family comes here, we spend untold kilowatts of mental power trying to divine if and how we could move here and make it. To say that we love Hawai’I is a vulgar understatement of one of our really big dreams. Literally, there is no other place on the planet we would rather be. Everything about it: beauty, music, pace of life, separation from the chaos of mainland U.S.A, temperate climate, accepting culture, moderate political environment. It’s difficult to articulate what this place has been for us over the years. It’s been an oasis for rekindled love, a haven for the healing of broken hearts after we lost our unborn baby, a destination of family joy and fun after the birth of Rowan (who already loves the island of Maui as much or possibly more than Tami or I). We love Hawai'i.

So here I sit, on the veranda, missing my family, thinking of good friends, as the breeze delivers Jack Johnson to my ears and a hundred pleasing fragrances to my nostrils.

I need a sandwich.