October 17–21, 2024 · Oʻahu

Hawaii

We left Edmonton on a Thursday and did not really stop until a rock at Lāʻie Point. The first two days are the story. The last two are the pictures, until I write the rest.

Thursday

Departure, and a layover we spent outside

The flight out of Edmonton was at 10. YEG to YVR, and then a wait I did not want to spend under airport lights. The book was already open at the gate.

Reading You Deserve This Shit in the airport terminal, white hoodie, glasses, and white sneakers, with luggage on the seats beside him. — Before the flight. *You Deserve This Shit*, open in the terminal. It felt like a joke at the gate. It reads differently now.

In Vancouver we rented a car and drove south to Steveston. Gulf of Georgia Cannery first, the national historic site on the water, and then lunch while we still had the car. Two bowls of hot pot, the cannery buildings sitting across the street.

Two hot pot bowls, plates, and drinks on a restaurant table, with waterfront buildings visible through the window. — Lunch in Steveston. Hot pot for two, and the cannery shore outside the glass.

Sarah standing under yellow autumn leaves in a white hoodie with a goat on it, black pants and white sneakers. — Garry Point, under the leaves. The goat hoodie, and a sky that still looked like October on the mainland.

Garry Point Park was the sweet part of the layover. A picnic table facing the water, mountains on the far shore, and the two of us walking the driftwood with Vancouver only a faint line behind us. Then the clock ran out. At 5 we were back at YVR to meet Peter. I slept on the flight after that. The next time I was really awake, the Pacific was under us and Oʻahu was close.

A wooden picnic table and benches beside the water at Garry Point, with mountains across the inlet. — The table by the water. We did not need much more than this and an hour.

Sarah in a white hoodie and Nico in a black jacket walking the driftwood shore at Garry Point, a distant skyline behind them. — Walking the driftwood. The city is barely in the frame, which was the point.

Friday

The night, the almost, and Lāʻie Point

We landed around 11 and did not go to bed. The island was right there, so we went out into it. Around 1 we were on the rocks at Diamond Head Beach Park. After that we looked at crabs at Maunalua Bay Beach Park, then stood at Koko Kai Beach Mini Park trying to find Spitting Cave in the dark. We never did. China Walls was the same: we looked, and the dark looked back.

Lānai Lookout at least gave us the lava shelf, and a flashlight. Later we were crabbing again, on the beach near Sandy Beach, the beam doing all the work.

After midnight

A person in a maroon shirt crouched on the rocks at night at Diamond Head Beach Park, white sneakers, the water behind them. — Diamond Head Beach Park, sometime after one. Crouched on the rocks because sitting still was not the plan.

A flashlight beam on a lava shelf at night, with the ocean disappearing into the dark at Lanai Lookout. — Lānai Lookout. The flashlight found the shelf. Spitting Cave did not turn up, and neither did China Walls.

Another night view of the lava shelf at Lanai Lookout, a flashlight lighting the rock above black water. — Same shelf, a few steps on. The water stayed black and the cave stayed hidden.

Night crabbing on the beach near Sandy Beach, a person in a black hoodie with a headlamp and a flashlight on the sand. — Crabbing by flashlight on the beach near Sandy Beach. The headlamp was the whole scene.

Byodo-In, once it opened

Near Heʻeia we tried to rinse off at a gym. It did not work out that way. We rested there for about two hours, until Byodo-In opened, and the morning turned into a pavilion, a still pond, and a red bridge with the mountains behind it.

Sarah in a white dress with red flowers, standing in the Byodo-In pavilion near the bell and a red umbrella. — The pavilion at Byodo-In. White and red dress, the bell, the red umbrella, the morning finally behaving.

Four people posing beside the reflecting pond at Byodo-In, the temple mirrored in the water. — The four of us by the pond, the temple sitting in its own reflection.

Sarah and Nico on the red bridge at Byodo-In, koi pond below and green mountains behind them. — The red bridge. This was the calm part, before I started counting strangers.

Kualoa, instead of Secret Island

I had a plan for Secret Island. It was full of people, and there was a private party, so we let it go and went to Kualoa Regional Park. Ironwoods along the bay, the little island offshore, the Koʻolau cliffs standing straight up behind the grass. We washed up there too, as much as a park and a bottle of water allow.

Behind the park there is a field. That was supposed to be the place. I had the ring. There were not even that many people, and I still could not do it. Too seen. Too nervous. We took the pictures and we moved on.

Ironwood trees along the bay at Kualoa Regional Park, with Mokoliʻi offshore and the Koʻolau cliffs behind. — Kualoa Regional Park. Secret Island was already packed, so this bay was the stop instead.

Sarah walking across a green field in a white and red floral dress, the Koʻolau cliffs filling the background. — The field behind the park. She is walking. I am still not asking.

Sarah and Nico standing in the grass at Kualoa, looking at each other, the Koʻolau cliffs behind them. — Still in that field. The cliffs, the dress, and not quite enough courage.

Sarah and Nico embracing in the field at Kualoa, her hand on his shoulder, the mountains behind them. — A little closer. Still not the moment. I knew it, and I walked us back to the car anyway.

Sarah and Nico holding hands under the shade of a large tree at Kualoa, her white dress and his black shirt. — Under the big tree, hands held. The ring was still in a pocket somewhere else.

Lāʻie Point

The backup in my head was the Polynesian Cultural Center, and I already knew that was wrong for this. She would have hated a crowd for it. On the drive east I was so wound up I could not get the words out at any of the pullouts. There was one stop left before the center.

Lāʻie Point State Wayside. The sun was right. The water was an impossible color. The waves stood up and broke like they meant it. We took a lot of pictures. I kept telling Mike to photograph Sarah, that we had time before the center. I was buying time. I was looking at her in that white and red dress and thinking that if I walked away from this rock I would regret it for the rest of my life.

Turquoise water and tall white waves breaking on the rocks at Lāʻie Point. — The water at Lāʻie Point, and the waves already tall before we had even walked out.

A blowhole throwing white spray beside the rocks at Lāʻie Point, a person in black standing on the shelf. — The blowhole going off beside the shelf. This is the part I told myself we were here for.

Sarah sitting on the rocks at Lāʻie Point in the white and red dress and a black hat, the ocean behind her. — Sarah on the rocks. White and red, the hat, the whole reason I kept saying we had time.

Sarah from behind in the floral dress, standing on the rock and looking out over turquoise water toward a distant beach. — Looking out over that water. The dress was in the wind and I was still walking back and forth in my head.

Sarah and Nico from behind, holding hands above a natural rock arch as waves break through it. — Above the natural arch, hands together, the water working the hole underneath us.

Sarah and Nico walking the dry headland at Lāʻie, the floral dress and black shirt, mountains across the water. — Walking the headland. From here the car was a longer walk than it looked, which I was about to find out.

Sarah and Nico sitting on the lava rocks while a wave explodes in white spray behind them. — Sitting the shelf while a wave blew up behind us. I still had not gone to the car.

Sarah seated on the rocks in the floral dress as a blowhole throws a tall curtain of spray beside her. — Her and the blowhole. The spray went higher than I was ready for, and so did the afternoon.

I walked back to the car. Peter was in it with the air conditioning on, because it was hot, just sitting there. I got the ring. I gave Mike my phone and said, bro, pa-record.

On the walk back I tried to guess which would come first, the laugh or the cry. I know her. I knew she would laugh from the shock, hard, and then she would cry.

I got her attention. I knelt on rock that was sharper than I expected. I asked. She laughed exactly the way I thought she would. She said yes, quietly, and she cried, and she hugged me without really looking at the ring. I still cry when I think about it. I do not think that is going to stop.

Nico kneeling on the sharp rock at Lāʻie Point, holding the ring toward Sarah in the white and red dress. — On the sharp rock. Mike had the phone. She laughed first, the way I knew she would.

A wide view of the proposal at Lāʻie Point, Nico kneeling and Sarah in the floral dress, a small island offshore. — The same kneel, from farther down the point. The island sitting out there like it had been waiting too.

Sarah and Nico hugging on the rocks right after the proposal, her dress against his black shirt. — The hug. She said yes before she really looked at the ring.

Sarah and Nico embracing on the rocky point, turquoise water and a breaking wave beside them. — Still holding on. A wave broke beside the rock and I did not care about anything else.

Polynesian Cultural Center

We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center after that, which turned out to be the right place to land. We went through the villages, took the canoe, sat for the temporary tattoos, and stayed for dinner and the evening show. The knowledge, the food, the noise, all of it. I could finally watch her smile without rehearsing a sentence in my head. She was happy. She was not going to forget it either. I had asked. Best day of my life.

We slept at a sketchy campsite and called that the start of the next chapter. I did not take a picture of the campsite.