Meaningful Maui musings

I can't believe that I called a post from three years ago, "Meaningless Maui musings." I'm rectifying this error now with a change from "less" to "ful" in the title.

Because sitting on Napili Beach -- the lovely crescent in the middle of the photo -- for several hours each day offers plenty of time for deeply important ponderings about life.

Some of which, I'm pleased to see, are the same as my 2006 musings. I say "pleased" because doing the same things is a big part of what I love about returning to Napili Bay almost every year.

I call this an On Golden Pond sort of vacation. In that marvelous movie an aging couple spend each summer at their home on a lake called Golden Pond.

"Aging couple" isn't a phrase I like to use in reference to Laurel and me. But we're getting older, that's for sure. (Who isn't?) And our vacation preferences favor repetition rather than variety.

We know what we like. We have a great time on every visit to Maui. Why mess with success?

My daughter and her family came along for part of our 2009 vacation. Lazing on the warm, sun-soaked beach a few days ago, she said: "Dad, I've always made fun of you for returning to the same place every year. Now I see why. It's beautiful!"

I enjoy doing the same thing on Napili Bay and seeing how different it feels each time.

Life is continuously refreshing itself. It isn't possible to step in the same experience river twice. So I don't get bored engaging in my daily 30-minute sidestroke practice back and forth across the bay.

Quite the opposite.

Every day the wind is different, the waves are different, the clouds are different. Most importantly, I'm different -- my energy level, mood, thoughts inside my head, and such.

The way I see it, boredom only arises when we stop paying attention.

Life always is living, so long as we are. Feeling the energies of existence pulse inside and outside of me, like the waves that never stop washing onto Napili Beach -- sometimes gently, sometimes crashingly -- it's always absorbingly interesting.

Along with the recurring questions that Laurel and I discuss as we lie on our natural beach mats, observing our fellow vacationers as they pass by on the sand or play in the ocean.

Example: a ponder that we also pondered in 2006.

Generously-sized people in skimpy bathing suits glorifying the body God and McDonalds gave them, good or bad? Jury is still out on this question. More research to be conducted on the beach in a few minutes. Tentative answer: depends on number of rolls of body fat.

I need many more visits to Maui to come close to a definitive answer. The response that seems to be evolving for me is Go for it, girl! (teeny bikinis are much more evident on the beach than small Speedos -- which seem to be a European thing)

Why not? Flaunt it if you've got it.

And we sure have seen some older plus-plus-plus sized women doing just that. I admire them for saying to the world via their swimsuit choice, "This is me, and I'm just fine with it."

Which is what I like about beach behavior.

Grown-ups acting like kids. Kids acting like kids. Having fun. Not caring how you look to other people. Embracing your inner just do it.

Like they say, life's a beach.

Comments

[Harry Vanderpool]

Brian, I'm really glad that you are having fun over there with your killer family, super cute grandchild and awesome surroundings.
Me? Well thanks for asking, but I'm working my ass off. Its that time of year.
But lets get back to your blog post.
Admit it; those big fat ugly slobs in bikinis gross you out, don't they? Oh yeah, I know they do!
There should be a law...