Losing my father was devastating, and Mom knew she had to do something to bring us all out of our funk. We couldn’t just go on as if nothing had happened, and her sister invited us all to go to Maui.  

Sixteen years old, recently heartbroken, and still reeling from what happened, I thought this might be a great idea. Off we went to Maui for a week and a half.

It was my first trip out of the country, and my older brother came along with us. 

As we landed at the main airport, I was beyond excited to see my first palm trees and smell the ocean. It was fun and adventurous, and I knew that we were going to have so much fun. We were staying in a condo with my aunt and uncle and had oodles of adventures lined up for our stay.

My brother and I rented a motorcycle to tour around with. He is five years older than me, and we have never really been that close. This motorcycle rental was a big deal, because it allowed us to escape the adults, and get a little closer in our relationship. We toured around the island and saw a lot of the land.  We ate so much pineapple that it burned the taste buds off our tongues, and we couldn’t eat anything for a day and a half.

One evening we decided we wanted to drive to the top of the volcano on Maui, Haleakala. It is famous for watching the sunrise, and so we made a plan to ride the bike up to the top really early in the morning.  When you go to Hawaii, you don’t really plan for cold weather, but riding up 3000 meters above sea level at 4:30 in the morning requires some extra clothing. It was so cold! I had socks on my hands as mittens and was shivering by the time we arrived at the top.

That sunset is something I will never forget.

It was stunning, and we both shared a moment of bliss that day.  

We also had a plan for whale watching. Growing up in a landlocked province of Canada, we weren’t used to the ocean, but my uncle decided we needed to take open sea kayaks out to go watch the humpback whales. I was excited, but also terrified. I was in a kayak with my aunt, and my brother was in a separate kayak. As we paddled around the ocean, I already felt nervous because I did not have much experience with the ocean. But then the whales came. 

You will never comprehend the size of a humpback whale until you see it go underneath your open sea kayak.

The only thought going through my head was that I was about to die.

This whale was massive! All it had to do was decide to rub his back on our kayak and I would have been swimming in the ocean with it. I was frozen in fear but also in awe. There was a whole pod around us and many babies. It was a moment in time that would be stamped into my life forever. Once we decided to paddle back to shore, we turned around and saw one of the rarest moments ever. The whales were breaching, and a mom and baby both breached fully out of the water at the same time. It was so beautiful I nearly cried.

As we explored the island and found places to visit, we realized that we had chosen a time to visit the island when they were experiencing the worst drought they’d had in years. The seven pools had no water in them. We visited the pools, but it wasn’t very exciting. We also took the road to Hana, which quickly made my mom sick, as she suffers from motion sickness.

My favorite moment ever on that island was when we had all gathered back at the condo to relax at the end of the day of exploration.

We were sitting at the water’s edge, feet in the sand, enjoying the sunset.  We had all just come back from the top of Haleakala again, which has a massive elevation. At that moment, my mom asked the question, “how far are we from sea level?” I knew that she was trying to ask what the elevation difference was, but when my uncle responded, I almost fell out of my chair.  “About 2 feet.”

That trip to Maui became etched into my mind as the first happy memory after Dad died. It brought our family closer together. It bound us in that memory, and would be talked about for years.