And for goodness sake, don't play 'Shark' anymore!" Mom was shouting her warning as we were already splashing in the water. The day started much the same as many others on the beautiful island of Oahu. The sky was the brightest blue, not a cloud in sight. The sun had already climbed high-beating its hot rays onto our shoulders and making us yearn for a swim in the ocean! Lunch was finally finished and my two brothers, sister, and I knew we would soon be taking that long awaited ride to Waikiki Beach. The four of us piled into our usual seats in the family van as mom slid behind the wheel and cranked the engine. With a quick "beep, beep" of the horn she grinned and peered over her shoulder to see the excitement in our eyes as the van began moving in reverse out of the driveway. The winding roads seemed to be longer this day than usual. Maybe there was more anticipation this particular trip because we had not been to the beach for quite some time. There had been many heavy downpours over the previous couple of weeks and the poor weather kept us cooped up in base housing that seemed entirely too small for a family of six. It sure felt good to be on our way to a day of fun in the sun and ocean waves. The van kept going, and going, and going until there, in the distance, the water glimmered as the sun reflected off the surface and signaled we would be pulling up in less than five minutes.
We had our hands on the door handle ready to push it open the second the van came to a stop and mom gave the ok. Everyone jumped out and scrambled to grab our towels and boogie boards as quickly as we could. There wasn't a moment to lose. Running across the parking lot we hit the beach with bare feet sending the sand flying in all directions around us clamoring to be first in the water! I cannot speak for my siblings, but I could barely hear my mom's voice in the receding distance reminding us about sunscreen, not going somewhere, and something about well now she was just too far away.
