💌 My love letter to Hawaii

Letter 166

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Aloha fellow learn-it-all 👋

Greetings from Seattle’s airport.

I’m on a 2-hour layover here from Honolulu. Six hours down. Six more to go before I touchdown in Detroit. I’ve been away for seven months. That’s the longest time I’ve ever gone without being in Michigan. Pretty wild.

It’s 12:15 AM. I just ate Qdoba for the first time. The *massive* burrito cost only $12 (and it came with free guac). I can get back to these affordable prices. Also, I just walked by a children’s playroom that was full of jumping kiddos. They gave me a burst of energy for me to write this. :)

I realize this love letter I wrote on the plane below is similar to what I shared last week on 🏝️ Two Years of Hawaii as my Happy Home, but I promise this is different.

Now, let’s dive into letter 166 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy!

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🖊️ Writing

A love letter to the place I’ve lived these past two years: Oahu, Hawaii

Dear Hawaii,

On June 29, 2021, I stepped off a plane onto you. You were so foreign at the time. I’d never been here before. I was afraid of eating poké. I called shoyu as soy sauce and was not confident with chopsticks. I knew nothing apart from what the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch taught me about the word 'ohana when I was 10.

Today, on July 10, 2023, I stepped back onto a plane to leave you for the summer. That space and time in between have made me feel like a different person.

You’ve allowed me to believe in the power of reinvention. Breathing here with you makes me feel alive. Deep belly laughs are lovely. You help me dream and awaken parts of me I forgot about. you’ve given me the confidence to make friends without booze. You taught me to lean into learning how to feel. Love feels boundless. Possibilities feel expansive. Life feels full and wholesome. 

I’ve learned so much. Here’s a handful of lessons:

To begin again.
To say Hell YES.
To cut a pineapple. 
To trust myself more.
To wake up with the sun. 
To sit in silence for hours. 
To nurture deep connections.
To respect the power of the ocean. 
To freely give love while connecting. 
To see the beauty of life everywhere. 
To notice the dolphins playing around me. 
To do the scary things and feel courageous.
To bow down in child’s pose for a little longer. 
To enthuse my body and eardrums with music.
To exhale deeply to sink lower to the ocean floor. 
To be at peace with falling off more waves than I surf. 
To let hugs linger with friends as we share breaths together. 
To walk barefoot on the ‘aina to feel the grass between my toes. 

Life is such a grand adventure.

Mahalo Hawaii 🌺

I respect you deeply and will cherish these memories I’ve made with you for eternity.

I cannot wait to be back in the fall for more experiences. 🥰

Yours Truly,

A mermaid wannabe

🎧Listening

"Aloha ʻOe" ("Farewell to Thee") is a Hawaiian folk song written c. 1878 by Liliʻuokalani, who was then Princess of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Hui
Aloha 'oe, aloha 'oe
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo
One fond embrace
A ho'i a'e au
Until we meet again

🎬 Watching

On good days, I’m a Delta flyer. Usually, I zone out during the things that play on screens, but this time I didn’t. Delta's new brand spot "Kaleidoscope," narrated by Viola Davis, reminds me to open my eyes and experience the beauty the world has to offer.

Two resonant quotes from the advertisement:

“Simply opening your eyes can open your world.”

"Things stay the same when the same is where you stay – and we love being a part of people's journeys to get out into the world."

🔍Word to define

Āina: the Hawaiian word for “land,” means that which feeds.

It encompasses the Hawaiian worldview of a reciprocal and familial relationship between people and land. Connection to ʻāina is essential to the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of Native Hawaiians.

🌟Quote to inspire

C.S. Lewis said that it’s obvious humans don’t belong in time because we are constantly talking about it:

We are so little reconciled to time that we are even astonished at it. 'How he's grown!' we exclaim, 'How time flies!' as though the universal form of our experience were again and again a novelty. It is as strange as if a fish were repeatedly surprised at the very wetness of water. And that would be strange indeed: unless of course the fish were destined to become, one day, a land animal.

📸 Photos of the Week

Here’s a bunch of photos I am quite fond of. When I look at these I feel ooey gooey love flowing out of me. Enjoy :)

🙏Shoutouts

• To my friend Sam who told me about this week’s song that he sang in choir

• To one of my favorite writers lately

  Mari Andrew
  for sharing the quote to inspire. It hit me at such a resonant time.

• To my friend Hannah for being my photographer at Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden and taking the picture that makes me feel high on life like a flying pink fairy 🧚‍♀️

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I appreciate you reading this!

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Never stop learning 😁

Mahalo 🌺

Jen

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