My first trip to Hawaii was when I was only nine years old and in Grade 4. I remember the feeling I had that Christmas as I unwrapped a travel suitcase for my Cabbage Patch Kid, Erica, to take along on the trip. Our vacation was to begin on January 9, 1985 and the excitement was mounting by the holiday season.

I chose this picture as my first to display my young age and eagerness. Taken in our hotel room at The Beachcomber in Waikiki, the year it was renovated, this is how I most remember myself at the time. The grass shirt and bikini top came straight from my adored Hilo Hatties, of course. Sadly, my Mom had sunstroke for most of our stay in Oahu that year but was much better by the time we had flown on to Hawaii and Maui.

My first memories of Paradise (Hawaiian style) are full of Tiny Bubbles (the song, not the bubbly, I was 9, remember!), working the mic on the way to our Luau at Paradise Cove, trying not to get a mouthful of fish in the waves of Kaanapali, “mooing” at the cows at Parker Ranch on the Big Island and squealing with delight every time a red Ferrari drove by in hopes it was Magnum!

Aloha has lived inside of me since that trip and although I have been back to visit I never feel so complete as when I am there.