Procrastinating over booking our winter escape led to hearing these words, “Sorry, but we’re fully booked until April.” I couldn’t believe it. Now what? My heart and expectations were set on our usual destination. We’d been escaping there for the past ten years. How could the reservation agent not have room for us? It took me a few days to have the bad news sink in. I couldn’t wrap my head around where my husband and I should go. My main focus was trying to find the same quick flight, where I’d still get plenty of sunshine and heat, but with little flying time.
As I began my search, I came across a tiny Hawai`ian island, Kaua`i. I kept ignoring it, but for some reason flights and resorts kept popping up. Who didn’t think about going to Hawaii at some point in their life? I know I did, but it was always more of a fantasy, never something I’d have considered. Thirteen hours sitting on a plane was not for me. Yes, I love to travel, but I confess to not being the most relaxed flier. I think we should dig deeper into this topic another time (laughing).
Ignoring the pull that Kaua`i was having on me, I redirected my focus on perhaps going back to Santa Barbara. It would be a great alternative, even though it was two hours further than my usual spot.
By month’s end, without discussing it with my husband, we were booked. I remember calling him at work and saying, “What would you say if I told you we were going to Hawai`i for fifteen days?” He, not being a nervous passenger, was ecstatic. Don’t get me wrong I was really happy about it, so much so, that I booked us to leave in late November. I’d always preferred February to getaway from the deep winter freeze, which is home to us, but something unexplainable happened. I just couldn’t wait. I felt as if I were silently being tugged to venture out earlier.
To this day, my husband and I get a chuckle over the fact that I didn’t flinch once during our entire flight. Mind you I ate every snack box that the airline had for sale, but that doesn’t count. Neither of us to this day comprehends the shield of calmness I was surrounded with. I still remember the amount of times he’d lean over to ask, “Are you okay?” I always nodded that I was fine. I was busy watching movies and reading. But I knew what he was really referring to without having to say it. He was questioning if I’d taken anything, knowing full well that I didn’t even like to take a Gravol. I had them with me, but I never touched them.
Hindsight is a strange thing. I now realize that the flight and my calmness were just the beginning of a string of odd incidences. It’s as if the mystical powers of Kaua`i were planting its seeds in me—to write, Legend of the Coco Palms Resort.
Join me next Thursday to continue learning how the book came to light. Stay tuned.
