Hawaii – Day 5

Day 5 – Memorial Day

Today we woke to a beautiful sunny morning with not a cloud in the sky. ( I apologise now if some words don’t make sense or if punctuation isn’t the greatest it’s 10:30pm on a Sunday night after a busy weekend where I probably should be making kids school lunches, washing my hair and making sure my work clothes are ready for tomorrow but when blogging is more appealing as the kids are asleep early, the dogs worn out from a run and Im wrapped in a mink in front of the gas heater, please, I will always choose blogging and yes I know I will regret it when my alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow morning and no I haven’t been drinking wine.. but let’s carry on)

Toda was Memorial Day. Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May each year, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military.

I was so excited when I realised after we had purchased our plane tickets to Hawaii that we would be in Waikiki on Memorial Day. Memorial Day is celebrated a little differently in Hawaii due to the beautiful spiritual culture of the Hawaiian people. Each year they hold a special ceremony called Shinnyo Lantern Floating, which I had read alot about. It’s a ceremony where all can come together for a personal and collective moment of remembrance, reflection, and offering gratitude to those loved ones who have gone before us. Even more exciting was each year they give away 7,000 lanterns to the public so they can too create a lantern for a loved one and take part in the ceremony by releasing it into the ocean. It’s like sending your love and thoughts to those in Heaven.

I know Trent’s dads passing was hard for him especially as a child and why wouldn’t it be, Id never wish that on anyone especially a child to lose a parent and nor would I ever imagine what he went through but I feel it would have been horrible times a million. At times I need to remember how lucky I am mine parents are both still on this Earth. Cant 100% confirm my dads wear abouts – the whole parent seperation thing happened to me at 19 but thats another story. 
So this was something I knew we had to attend and definitely be part of.

We woke early Monday morning and made our way to the Ala Moana beach park right across the road from the Ala Moana shopping centre. There they were giving out the lanterns starting at 10 a.m to first in best dressed. We arrived at 8:30 a.m and the line was already 2 kilometres long. Again this holiday was also about enjoying time together but also getting to know each other more. I panicked a little when I saw the crowds and didn’t know how Trent was with waiting for things or crowds. I already deep down knew that he was a very patient man, hay he came back after meeting my 2 little energiser bunnies! and patience is something that everyone should have but not everyone has so this was something else I adore about Trent, he has a very patient nature! I panicked a little and did say “are you ok waiting for something like this it may be a long wait” and he casually looked at me and said “yep it’s fine, we’ll just wait in line” I was like oh yes this guy is awesome – its the small things people. So we waited in line and just chilled in the beautiful sunshine and watch the line grow longer and longer and did one of our favourite things that we both love to do- people watching, Hawaii is great for people watching. So we eventually got our Lantern, had a quick run through by a local of how to assemble it and then we were on our way to Hanauma Bay. We have heard a lot about this place that the snorkeling is amazing, so this was something we had on our to do list for Hawaii.

We walked to the bus station at the huge shopping mall across the road, grabbed an amazing acai bowl and waited for the bus. It was about an hour bus ride to Hanauma Bay. We pick s great day for it sun was shining there were not alot of people, we brought our snorkeling gear and GoPro of course and got some great footage of different types of beautiful fish.
Tip: dont go on Tuesdays as they are closed and be prepared to watch the 10 minute important tutorial before going in.
After a couple of hours we both realise that we had enough of the Bay and thought that maybe this place is a bit more hyped up then we thought. It was just a big bay, lots of people, lots of salty water and fish with alot of sharp coral. Dont get me wrong we loved it but 2 hours of snorkelling we felt was enough, we couldn’t spend all day here. So we assembled our Lantern on the beach, ate our leftover cold pizza from Flour & Barley and each had some quiet time to write our own personal messages on the lanterns that we got to float at the ceremony at 6 p.m.

So by 3 p.m we packed up, walked up the massive hill back to the bus stop and headed back to Waikiki. We got dressed at a Airbnb and then caught the bus back to Ala Moana Park where the ceremony started at 6 p.m sharp. This is why we say the $5.50 all day bus pass is great value! We used it all day!

So when it comes to religion (ohh know I’ve said a taboo topic on a blog, you’ll see down the track that thats how I roll so you’ll learn to love me or love me a little less than those who love coriander) I’m just going to be very out there and say I don’t really believe in any certain religion, I guess there is going to be no right or wrong answer about this. I say let people believe in their own beliefs as long as its not hurting anyone. We are not going to know the right answer until we pass over anyway and I’m pretty sure by then its too late to tell someone.. so me personally, Im a spiritual person, one that doesn’t really believe in ‘a god’ but more so believes in some spiritual act of fate, destiny, our guardian angels of passed loved ones looking over us, that our paths are all ready made for us we just live them, positive vibes bring positive things and enjoy the ride of life while looking out for serendipity and angel numbers. 11:11 anyone? So when we arrived on the beach with another 50,000 people that were already there patiently waiting for the sun to go down, the atmosphere was amazing! Indescribable. Everyone was there for a reason whether you were one of the ignorant people flying a drone over the crowd just to get the best insta shot even though there were many signs saying no drones allowed, whether this was a common annual event or whether you were on holidays and you just wanted to follow the crowd to see what the hype was about. Everyone was here for a reason and everyone was feeling the emotional connection one way or another. It was very touching seeing some of the lanterns that were beautifully decorated for loved ones that have passed. Some wives had lost their husbands, parents had lost their children, husbands had lost their wives and also the children who had lost their parents.
Trent and I joined the thousands as we sat on the beach and watched the big screen. A beautiful moment which I almost cried was when the Japanese all said a prayer aloud in Japanese. It was so peaceful and still and watching an old man alone behind us bow his head and pray, it was touching.
By 7:30 p.m. the public who had been lucky enough to get their own lantern were allowed to walk down to the water and release them. To me I felt like this was a real special time that I wanted Trent to enjoy and feel the energy around him in the hope that if his father’s spirit was around next to him that he would see this beautiful act that his son was doing for him, which I’m sure he was with us. Im sure many spirits were on that beach that night and I’m sure Trent’s dad was watching over him with a beautiful smile on his face feeling so proud of his son.
Im already so proud of Trent in the time I’ve known him so Im sure his dad was beaming with joy and so much love.
I watched Trent, while holding back tears, as I handed him the lantern and watched him walk into the water. The presence on this beach was magical, warm and peaceful. I wanted to hug Trent and be strong for him but at the same time give him space and courage from afar. Trent spoke a few words and released our beautiful lantern filled with love, drawings and messages into the ocean. We stood there for a few minutes together while looking around and observing everyone else releasing their lanterns into the ocean, it was beautiful and pictures don’t do it justice. This is something I knew would be very powerful and something that we will never be able to forget and I’m so glad that we got to share this special experience with the other 50,000 people in Waikiki even if for a split moment it just felt like Trent and I.

As the roads were blocked and the traffic was chaos we had decided to walk over to the Ala Moana shopping centre to grab dinner while the crowd settled down. Here we found the delicious Panda Express. It’s a fast food Chinese restaurant chain that is located in many shopping centres throughout America. My love for PE started in Portland where I ate it alot on the road. I remembered the huge servings of Chinese meals with rice and veggies and I was happy to see that hadn’t changed. $11.00 each got us an amazing huge meal each and we were lucky enough to just to get in before closing time. We enjoyed our Chinese and then were kicked out of the centre by 9 p.m. by security and caught the bus home to our Airbnb. We relaxed and reflected after a busy day snorkeling and releasing our messages to the sea. A once in a life time moment..