Yesterday would have been our 20th Anniversary. We had such plans for this one. The boys grown and gone. We were going to renew our vows in Bora Bora...make love in a thatched hut over the turquoise bay...watch the sun rise and set together...explore the French Polynesia...sip umbrella drinks.
Well, in August 2010...we renewed our vows. Together with our sons at home. It was both wonderful and bittersweet. Four months later Bill died of leukemia. Bora Bora seemed a lot less important.
Plans.
Yesterday I decided to modify our plan. To explore Bora Bora (virtually) myself. See all those things we had talked about seeing. Fix a Polynesian meal. Peruse The Black Pearl Farm. Sink into a bubble bath with an umbrella drink and a bit of chocolate. Lightly spray the sheets with Polo (his scent) perhaps to meet in my dreams.
(...want to make the gods laugh...tell them your plans...)
The morning silence disrupted yesterday by a tearful phone call from my oldest granddaughter's Mother. The same granddaughter that was always "...Grandpa's Girl..." Both she and her mother locked in a terrible row. Hearing the 7 year old proclaim loudly in the background
"If you won't TAKE me to Grandma Rose's...then I'll WALK..."
Did I mention that I live all the way across town?
They both needed the break.
And so...that is how I ended up spending this "heartdate". Playing with Playdoh...leaving the Polynesian ingredients for this afternoon in favor of "P'sketti, Grandma"...messily mixing up a batch of gingerbeard cookies
(...cutting them with the same silver stars and Christmas trees and Gingerbread men cutters that I grew up with as a child and cut gingerbread cookies with her Daddy when he was little...)
Playing board games...chattering...and her standing on tippy-toes "helping" with dishes. In the early evening by the glow of the Christmas tree we sat on the sofa...her curled with her "woobie"...a raggedy-soft blanket she has had since forever and read books. Books that I used to read to her Daddy when he was this age. And finally...her drifting off. to sleep...wrapped in the blanket stretched across my lap.
And somewhere inside I could feel Bill's smile at this turn of events.
Where despite everything...the day turned out absolutely perfect.
Late that night I did "explore" Bora Bora...let me tell you...it is significantly less expensive on-line. Bora Bora having two modes. Expensive and extravagantly expensive. It is also breathtakingly beautiful. No multi-hour flights...takeoffs and landings or crowds, though. Discovered Hiano Pia ( the local beer) which Bill would have immediately tried. Bought a sample of Volcanic Chocolate Banana (...to be delivered this week...) which is a chocolate, banana and walnut energy bar specific to Bora Bora...And picked up a small souvenir from The Tahitian Black Pearl Farm...a single black pearl and silver pendant...also to be delivered.
The Pearl will outlast me.
I will pass it on to "Grandpa's Girl".
Proving, once again, how circular life really is.
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The Beginning of A New Day
Polynesian Roast Pork with Pineapple and Peppers
1 1/2 pound pork roast (oven roasted and cut into bite sized chunks)
2 cups steamed (prepared) rice.
1 regular can pineapple chunks.
1/4 cup brown sugar.
1 cup Duck Sauce (sweet and sour)
1 Green Bell Pepper cut into cubes.
5 Marichino cherries halved
(can add thin sliced onions if desired)
Arrange rice in baking dish. Top with Roast chunks...pineapple...peppers and brown sugar...arrange cherries on top and cover with Duck Sauce. Cover dish with aluminum for and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
Serve with sweet rolls (like King's Hawaiian rolls) and fresh fruit.
Enjoy!
