E KOMA MAI (Welcome)

This has been a year of extraordinary change for me and my sons. Last summer I had visited Hawaii for the first time. How do I describe the beauty of O'hau without sounding cliched. I can't. If it isn't paradise, then it is truly a wonderful imitation of the real thing. The month of May brought me back to this land of enchantment for my son, Chris' wedding. Chris had been stationed in Honolulu after completing his first tour of duty in Iraq. Like a story out of a fairy tale, he met the girl of his dreams, and she the boy of hers. From the first time they laid eyes on one another--they knew. On May 22nd, the were united in Holy Matrimony and began their lives as Chris and Maria Mola.

People find it amusing that the couple who married in "The Land of Enchantment" honeymooned in Las Vegas. But that they did, and now Maria will face another year of college in Honolulu, while her Chris has returned to Iraq for his second tour of duty. The Yin and the Yang of life. It's tough on newlyweds to be away from each other after such a short time together. Hopefully, the longing for one another will strengthen both their love and their bonds.

My parents were apart for two years during World War II. My dad departed only a week after the wedding to serve on the Pacific Front. What beautiful love letters my mom and dad wrote to one another during his absence. As a kid I would sneak into the old military trunk in the basement, see and touch my mother's wedding gown and veil, cock my dad's old army hat to the side of my head,and read the letters my mom and my dad had exchanged. One of my greatest disappointments was to learn from my father before he died in 1996,that he destroyed the letters in the belief that "these expressed devotions of love" were my mom and dad's own private conversation, and that no one else would be interested in "some old love letters". While I can respect my dad's first point, how wrong he was about the second.