Gratitude and a List<\/a>, you know that some of my closest, most trusted friends are women I have yet to meet in person.\u00a0When my son was 12, some of us camped together, with our kids, at Lassen Volcanic National Park. I spent a happy weekend in San Antonio with Debra, and another, years later, in Dallas, with Hadass, Ceci, and Debra.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\")
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While I was in Hawaii, I could not resist an island hop to Oahu to meet up with Vanessa. I was so excited to finally get to meet her that I flew out on the first flight, and back on the last. Fortunately, it’s easy to find the Kahului Airport in the dark, at 5:00 AM. Not so easy to find the rental car in a construction zone at 11:00 PM, but I managed!\u00a0 Though we had never met, Vanessa picked me up from the Honolulu airport at 7:00 AM in pouring rain.<\/p>\n
As we drove around the island, the rain began to abate. As the sun peeked from behind the clouds, we enjoyed coffee and breakfast in a valley, near the water, beneath Oahu’s stately cliffs.<\/p>\n
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After breakfast, we continued our drive around the island. Each view was more breathtaking than the last. I used to fantasize about running away and living as a beach bum in Hawaii. I could live on pineapple and pork. I could even eat poi, if taro root was all I could find. And as Vanessa drove me around Oahu, I found the spot where – in my imagination – I would pitch my tent.<\/p>\n
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I won’t tell you exactly where that is, but I’m changing my name to Maid Marian.<\/p>\n
I wandered a bit in the city while Vanessa attended a meeting. I enjoyed a leisurely visit to the Hawaii State Art Museum, wandered around the interior courtyard of the State Capitol, and took a stroll around ‘Iolani Palace. I said hello to the statues of Queen Lilioukalani and King Kamehameha I, and took selfies under the shade of a walking Banyan tree that seemed to go on and on and on.<\/p>\n
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Vanessa and I explored the fresh markets in Chinatown and had a delicious ramen lunch. She gifted me a beautiful lei of Hawaiian white ginger, the soft scent of which wafted around me for hours, even as the delicate blossoms began to wilt. I got so many compliments on that gorgeous lei! We ascended the Aloha Tower – a first for both of us – and enjoyed an incredible view in all directions.<\/p>\n
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Later, I’d attend 7th night Hanukkah celebrations at a synagogue in a Buddhist temple, before heading back on the last flight out to Maui. It was a happy exhaustion I felt, as I climbed into bed that last night in Maui.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have many friends who live in the little box under my desk. Now and then, I’m lucky enough to meet them, face to face, sometimes decades after cementing our friendships online. In 2016, I posted an interview by my friend Todd Kruse of artist Carl Yoshihara. Those two have taught me to appreciate abstract […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137990205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_has_post_settings":{"highlight_sharing":"default","image_sharing":"default","headline_sharing":"default"},"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,19],"tags":[],"hashtags":[],"class_list":["post-1009709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-travel"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 14:24:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1009709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137989995,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009709\/revisions\/137989995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137990205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1009709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1009709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1009709"},{"taxonomy":"hashtags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jahangiri.us\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtags?post=1009709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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