Mele Kalikimaka

Have I mentioned how blessed I feel that my family will be on Maui for Christmas? It’s unreasonable—the practical thing would have been for my brother and I to fly to the mainland for the holidays, rather than Mom, my sister, my brother-in-law, and my niece flying to Hawaiʻi; two plane tickets are far cheaper than four—but also wonderful. I’m beyond glad that I’ll be spending the holidays this year at home and with family. I get to have my cake and eat it, too!

It’s a funny thing; last Christmas I (reluctantly) flew to the mainland for the holidays. While I was glad to be with family and friends, I was terribly homesick for a place I’d only lived for five months. In future I will be happy to travel if need be to share the holidays with family, but this year I am thrilled to spend Christmas at home.

It’s a first, and firsts are important. Whether it’s the first round of holidays as a couple or the first round of holidays after the loss of a loved one, firsts are momentous; they mark a new reality and begin to establish a “new normal.” I think that’s why this feels like such a big deal to me. Christmas at home makes it home.

“What if” is a sucker’s game; I can pose the questions—“what if” I’d stayed in Lancaster, “what if” I’d ended up on Oʻahu, “what if” I’d done Les Misérables instead of Rent, “what if,” “what if,” “what if”—but I’m not interested in imagining answers. The glorious life I’m living has nothing to do with “What if…” and everything to do with “What actually happened was…”

I am grateful that my family chose to come to Hawaiʻi for Christmas this year. I know it’s a significant hardship—this is peak travel time, or close enough that it might as well be—and I won’t take it for granted.

So lucky I live Maui!