A Party on Maui

Glancing over my shoulder at the calendar, it's no secret that my travels are coming to an end and I'll sadly be heading home in a couple of days. As a result, the roomates here at the house and my old neighborhood friends threw a whopper of a party for me.

When I used to live here, we always had functions/parties here. I had the back yard looking better than the movie set for Blue Hawaii. The house and yard unfortunately have fallen into a bit of disrepair since my leaving. But Chris Corrozza, one of the roomates here did a top-notch job of recreating those old days by creating a party complete with tropical atmosphere--lights, tiki torches and an outdoor bar and grill.

Chris is captain of one of the commercial sailing boats that takes tourists out to Molokini every day. He also has just opened a surfboard shop nearby with "Woozer" Goring who lived at our house years and years ago and still lives right in the neighborhood.

Chris invited all his crew and a few other sailing/surfing people from Maalea... this gave the party a salty dog atmosphere. Also there were people whom I've known for 15-20 years that still live in the neighborhood. And they all showed!

Like with my friends in Thailand, it seemed that I was the only one of my old buddies who left paradise for a life on the mainland.

The party began at dusk. Tropical rum drinks made by Chris himself were the drink of the evening. On the barbeque, we cooked burgers and hot dogs. Everyone invited brought something, so fresh salads abounded as did other scrumptious dishes.

The neighborhood kids brought surf movies so they were occupied for part of the evening in front of our tube.

Another old friend, Rona Smith, showed up as well. I convinced Ronna to move here from Sacramento 20 years ago. She did. She loved it and she stayed. Great to see her and talk about old times. She even brought me a lei.

Everyone at the party was a real character of some sort. I love parties like that. There were transplants from various states on the mainland, island born people, neighborhood surfers and even one guy from Peru. I talked to everyone and, unlike the mainland, everyone listened to my stories of exotic travel.

And what fun it was. There was even a limbo contest! So decadent! The night just flew by.

As the party started winding down around midnight, some live music was requested so I got my guitar out and entertained the dozen or so hangers-on. I did songs that involved the audience to sing the chorus or other parts of the song so everyone was involved. Long-time neighbor Bruce Fernandez grabbed his guitar as well. It was a real success.

We finally wound things up with handshakes and hugs at around 1:30am. It was SO much fun.

Boy, am I gonna miss this carefree lifestyle...