I made it back

After an enchanting few days, I am home again trying to adjust to cold temperatures, a quiet home, and some serious jet lag. I spent the last 5 days in O'ahu visiting Larry. I thought I might not make it. My initial plan was to leave here on Friday, but was hit with either a stomach flu or some food poisoning the day before. I was one sick pup and thoroughly exhausted. I decided not to push the Friday flight, choosing to get better and try for Saturday instead. It worked out that I wouldn't have made it on Friday anyway, no seats. I managed to be one of the lucky one's that got on the Saturday flight.

Larry surprised me when I arrived with some amazing smelling leis and a hotel room on the beach at Waikiki. I was pleasantly surprised with this little get-away. Usually when I visit, I stay with him on base at Pearl Harbor. Not that it is bad, but it isn't really us getting away together (he is usually working as well). We had two glorious days soaking up the sun, and moonlit nights walking up and down the beach. Another reason for my visit was to help Larry decide on a place to live. He had been struggling with the cost vs. amenities, so I was able to help him make a choice and I think he will be very happy with his/our decision. It is a fully furnished condo so there is no need to spend time and money to buy stuff to get settled only to have to get rid of it upon leaving the island. All he needs are his clothes and a trip to the grocery store. It is also centrally located to everything he needs to get to, which I find more important that spending an hour driving in traffic so you can see the sun set over the water (if your lucky to make it in time).

Most of the time was spent just talking with him again, face to face. It was so nice to be with him, to be happy and optimistic about our future. Sometimes dreams don't feel real unless I can share them with him.

On Tuesday and Wednesday Larry did have to work, so I took the car ( a cute VW Cabrio convertible) and made my way through the crazy streets of Honolulu and surrounding areas. I didn't make many mistakes, not too many u-turns, but did struggle to find parking. One of the days, I made my way to 'Iolani Palace. It was very interesting as I do not know much about Hawaiian culture or history. I found it very informative and also quite sad. Much like the dissolution of the Native Americans here in the states, the peoples of the island were pretty much destroyed by the Americanization of the islands. They now cling to the hope of keeping some amount of their culture alive. As a traveler, I always seek to know the place that I visit, not just the tourist areas with all the restaurants and shopping. I can do that here, but I can't visit the Queen's palace, or hike Diamond Head here, so those are the places I like to spend my time.

I also found out that I will be making at least one trip next year to Australia with Larry. He is part of the Navy attache that will be conducting meetings there, so I will be making it a little trip for myself as well. I think that will only leave South America and the Poles left to step foot on.

My flight home was....well...hell. To be honest, I don't expect much for a red-eye, but it is just miserable to leave at 11 p.m. and then arrive at 8 a.m. the next morning without getting more than a wink of sleep (yes, next to me was the 3 year old passing the time kicking me...FUN). It pretty much kills the day. The head feels cloudy. Speaking of heads feeling cloudy, my last blood test came back on Tuesday and my doctor called me to tell me she is changing me to Armour Thyroid which is what I was going to ask to be put on anyway. I have heard a lot of good things about it, so I am really hoping this will be the medication that will work for me. What makes it appealing for me is that as the thyroxine (T-4) replacement has not helped my numbers go down which demonstrates that the problem is with my brain, and not so much my thyroid (the thyroid is the result of another deficiency). Literally, my brain chemistry is off. Armour offers a mix of T-3 and T-4 which has been proven to help folks like me. Here's to hoping that's the case!

I was going to download photos from my trip, but I am too tired and feel like I just want to have a little dinner and then hit the hay. The photos will have to wait till next time.

Aloha!