Visiting Candie

Last Thursday I flew to Hawaii to spend a few days with my beautiful daughter, Candie. You can't imagine how much I wanted to go until you understand that two things in this world terrify me: dying in a plane crash and the ocean. Still, with Candie in Hawaii I had no choice but to board the jet and fly over the ocean to see her. It was worth every minute of the fear I experienced just to spend time with her. She picked me up at the airport and even presented me with a beautiful lei when she got there. We quickly got into the car and drove to her condo/apartment in Pearl City. She lives in a high-rise building, on the 30th floor and the view from her apartment is absolutely breathtaking. After I rested for a while, we were in the car headed out to shop and eat dinner. Her friend Stacy joined us and we had a great time talking and laughing.

On Friday while she went to work, I hung around the apartment until she got home. We laid out at the pool for a while, then went in and got ready to hit Honolulu, eat dinner and walk around the International Market. Saturday we headed out to Schofield Barracks, the North Shore and Sandy Beach but our trip got cut short when someone broke the window in Candie's car, opened up the trunk and stole our purses! The damage to the window was costly to Candie and the anger we felt was very upsetting, but not enough to ruin the trip for me.

Sunday we attended mass together and I realized it had been quite a few years since we'd done that. As I became more and more absorbed in the mass, my happiness at being there with my daughter grew and I began thanking God for all the blessings He has given me. I would not have been able to make the trip without the thoughtfulness of my wonderful husband, who paid for me to go as an early birthday present. And the days I spent with Candie were days I will remember for a long time to come.

As for the purse-stealing incident, the thieves didn't take anything of any consequence to me since I had my wallet, cell phone and camera with me anyway. The most important thing is that I the the opportunity to spend some wonderful days with Candie.

Thomas will be coming home from Iraq in the next couple weeks and we are all so thrilled! Please continue to pray for our troops and their safety.