Yes, I missed the mainland. I missed some of the folks at my office. I missed the smell of my home (it’s really nice), the leather seat smell in my car, my bicycle, and the other creature comforts of East Tennessee life. What I miss even more is a 10,700 square mile island whose name is Hawai’i.

Somewhere near sunset on Sunday, November 9th, our flight from KOA (Kona, Hawai’i) took off without delay. That sucked. Just about the time wheels “were up,” a baby in the back of the plane howled.

I muttered under my breath, “exactly!” And with that I looked out the window to gather one last glimpse of the Big Island. The 12 days were not enough. But a ’stay’ isn’t enough, is it? The bright side of this gig is simple: in less than 12 months I’ll be in Hawai’i twice. Yes, two times.

Aloha oe. Aloha.