OHANA MEANS FAMILY

It’s been a while since any of us had a getaway. As usual, we were in dire need of one. Under almost every circumstance, the absolute last place I’d ever want to have a getaway is at the very hotel that I work at; emphasis on the word almost. It’s this moment that’s the lone exception.

Over the years, several of us have grown very close to and very fond of a particular Californian family who I’ll call the Smiths. We’ve all grown so close in fact that we no longer consider them guests, we consider them family. They stay with us twice a year for 2 weeks or more per stay. Once we see the Smith name on our arrival list, we all try to contain a silent excitement which we’re never able to. It’s an absolute delight to us when they’re here. They say they love to come to Maui but I really believe they have no idea how happy we all are to see them. A cousin of mines, who works at the hotel, traded with our GM 2 free workdays if she’d be able to get a room for free. Luckily for us all, he obliged.

On our arrival day, instead of hitting the pool and utilizing all the hotel’s amenities, we instead chose to hang out and relax. It’s hard trying to stay incognito and not get questioned by the staff and guests on why you’re on property but you don’t have your aloha shirt on. After hanging out in the room a bit, I put on my little disguise and headed for the putting green with Damien. There we met up with Ray and Nick and had a putt off. Damien and I go to the driving range often but we rarely ever are on a putting green, with the exception of a miniature golf course. Even with very little practice, I managed to squeak out a victory. Unfortunately, I choked majorly and came in 2^nd on our 2^nd go at it.

From there we traded our putters for tennis rackets and hit the tennis court. This is where I belong. I need to stay actively moving, and unfortunately, due to the lack of anything for me on a putting green, I was happy to play tennis. We ended up playing doubles with me and Damien teaming up. We decided to hit light so the return shot from Ray and Nick would fly out of bounds. It worked. Ultimately, we didn’t know what the hell we were doing and how to keep score so we just ran around like fools. =)

From there we went back up to the room and helped with the cooking. We wanted to treat the Smith’s to a full blown local spread. We didn’t have the normal food that you’d be able to find at a luau but actual food locals eat; teriyaki beef and chicken, poke (fish), opihi, and malasadas, etc. After cooking, we brought everything down and joined the Smith’s at the pool. Man, we had a great time. In a way, it’s a bit weird to hear someone tell you that what we eat on a weekly basis is the greatest thing they’ve ever had. With very few time to digest, it was time to cool off in the pool.

We started doing all the things kids do in the pool; wrestle, chicken fight, see if we can swim to point B in one breath, front flips, back flips, you name it, and we did it. I started wrestling with Noah (Nick’s little brother), who’s like the little brother you want to make cry. Though I didn’t make him cry, I definitely showed him a few submissions in the water. I loved the fact that he came back for more. The more he came back, the rougher I got. Towards the end, we were literally jumping on him from outside the pool. There were a few times that I thought we were getting too rough but Noah manned up and didn’t break.

Unfortunately, when the pool closed, we all headed back up to the room and showered. We watched some TV and listened to some music before we began to play cards. We were taught a new game that I can’t remember the name of but honestly, it wasn’t that fun and we just hung out for the remainder of the evening before calling it a night.

On Sunday morning, we packed up everything and checked out. With a full day still ahead of us, we headed back to the pool and decided to get our sunburn on. We all spent the entire day in the pool and did nothing but have fun. So much so that there were other guests at the pool that were joining in and had fun.

The entire weekend was non stop fun. It’s nice to get out from behind the desk and live it up. And judging by this weekend, we definitely did. Regardless of how much fun we had, the true enjoyment was getting to hang out with the Smith’s. They’re such great people and we love them dearly. As the day came to an end, we were all hoping that we’ll be able to do this again. And at that moment, I think we just began another family tradition.