Renewal on Maui

When we first moved here in January of this year, we blinked in disbelief that we were swimming in the Pacific ocean in the middle of winter. Our Pacific swim experiences were from the furthest northwest county of California where wet suits outnumbered bikini's and to dare to let the ocean lap at your feet meant taking a chance on losing toes to hypothermia. My youngest (a middle aged 7 year old) was traumatized slightly when a well meaning friend took her out on a surfboard to give her a kid friendly lesson. Although my child was wearing a "spring suit" in hottest month of the year, July, she came away with a solemn vow to never set foot in the sea again. The grains of sand scoured her where the wetsuit was not protecting her tender skin, the salt water left her crusty and a deep seated cold permeated her small body until I stripped her down, rolled her up in a blanket, put her in the car and blasted the heater to get the blue color from her lips to turn back to rosy pink.
Poor thing was shocked to hear that yes- we would be moving to Maui when my husband accepted a new position! While most children may have dreams of white sand beaches and surfer's heaven, my youngest had visions of spewing volcanoes, island fever set-in early and that God awful thought that she would freeze to death if she tried to swim in mother Maui's waters.
The first day we arrived we checked in to our plantation home suite, a renovated bed and breakfast (Hale Ho'okipa BnB) and slept soundly until waking to the sounds of feral chickens and roosters crowing at 4:44 a.m. We were determined to check out the ocean beaches we'd read about on many websites proclaiming Maui as the best choice for winter time island vacations.
It took some prompting to get our youngest in within a stone's throw of the ocean's edge. She was suspicious of her family's laughter and wasn't going to take chances about this supposed paradise. After sweltering in the sun for about an hour and watching her family frolick in the waves, she ventured closer. Closer still as she walked through the powdery white sand to the packed moist sand at water's edge. She let the foam touch her toes with a look on her face that reminded me of tasting an exotic dessert. You know it's supposed to taste good but no one can tell you exactly what it will taste like! Her expression went from pained to pleasure in two seconds flat. "It's warm!" she squealed and proceded to pounce in like a puma chasing a fat pheasant. When we were all finally together in the ocean, bobbing and letting the waves pull and push us in a rocking rhythm, I wanted to cry for the pure delight my body was experiencing. Childlike and pure. Honest and clean. The ocean renewed a faith that life will continue to offer immeasurable pleasure interspersed with the occasional pain, of course. But to be here now, with spring in the midst and the scent of blossoms perfuming our travels our family vision was actually materialising!
We each came away with a renewed sense of admiration and gentle awakening to the promise of what lay ahead of us on our new island home, Maui No Ka Oi! (Maui Is The Best!)