…it’s quite something to grow older.
I just turned 60 this summer and it’s only now just occurred to me that there are some places I will never see again. Not because I’m sick or old or broke. None of that. Simply because there’s other places I’d like to see and that’s where Mike and I will spend our time and money. Yes, it does have something to do with our time and money being limited — but certainly not grievously so! It’s just that this time of life makes you focus. It makes you prioritize. You realize, finally, in finality! It ain’t gonna go on forever — and that’s ok. I’m at peace with that. I don’t fear death. I fear not living my life fully while I’m here.
And that’s what’s on my mind these days. I want to make sure my husband knows I love him, that he’s my heart, that he makes me happy everyday, and that my children have absolutely no regrets about me being their mother. I feel like this is the time I waited for with them; that their being little was hard. As much as I enjoyed them — and I did — it was hard having little ones. Even teenage ones! I feel like I’m better at this part of their lives and I want to make sure they know I’m fully here for them — while also feeling the wisdom of silence. There are some things I actually don’t need to say. That comes with age too.
In any event, one of the places I know I’ll never see again is a place I’ve seen twice! The Manele Bay Hotel, on the island of Lanai, Hawaii. Mike and I honeymooned there in September of 1993 and returned for a few days of a quickie second honeymoon in the fall of 1997. Leigh was just a weeble and we left her with Mike’s mom and her partner Jim, who passed years ago and was a gem of a man.
Manele Bay is now a Four Seasons resort and outrageously expensive. When we went back the second time we paid for a garden room, the cheapest one, and even that was expensive, or so I thought, at just shy of $400 per night, as I recall. Well, that room starts at more than triple that price now, almost $1500 per night! My heavens!
Lovely room, as you can see, but $1500 per night? Yikes! I know it’s a “private island” and all but it ain’t much of an island other than the tiny beach and the two luxury resorts. There’s not a helluva lot to do there other than, well, luxuriate.
This is the view I remember. If you walk way out to the far end of the beach there, there’s a path that leads to the cliff overlooking the ocean and behind there is a view of Maui, as I recall. You get to the island either by puddle-jumper plane, or by boat, and we did both. When we took the boat from Lahaina Harbor (so sadly burned to the ground now) there were flying fish whizzing along with the porpoises which sped alongside the boat! It was spectacular! And when you lay on the crescent shaped beach there and somebody spots the spinner dolphins, everyone goes flying into the water to swim with them. I remember the sound of them “talking” to each other underwater. It was pure magic.
The first time we went, for our honeymoon, we had a room like this. Ocean view. Those are now almost $2,000 per night! And you can go even higher! For an oceanfront or even a huge ocean view/front multi-bedroom suite with an English-trained butler. It’s insane the amount of money you can now spend at this place. Good gravy. I mean… you’re just sleeping there for crying out loud. How much do you really need, right?
Whatever. It was a spectacular place and I’m deeply grateful I was able to visit, not just once but twice — but not again. I’ve seen it. Been there done that.
It’s just kinda weird to know that that option is foreclosed now. Like I say: purely as an intellectual exercise, it’s kinda weird to be in this stage of life where I know I will never see a place again.