"Let the Aloha grow all over you"

Hotel grounds

When we arrived in Kaua'i, Hawai'i, we were greeted by perfect, warm sunshine and a delicious breeze.  It was better than the best weather I've every experienced anywhere.  I told Mario I felt like we had stepped into another country.  (Which we kinda had, but that's another story.)

The first thing we did was hit the beach, of course!  We stepped out our back porch, walked across an open field, and we were there.  After dinner, Windham hit the hay while Mario and I stayed up giddily planning our week's worth of adventures.

The title of this blog post, "Let the Aloha grow all over you," is from a native Hawai'ian named A'liki we met later in the week.  "Aloha," as I came to learn, doesn't just mean "hello," and "good-bye" like I thought it did. The "Aloha Spirit" is a concept that embodies love, respect for others and the environment, and personal responsibility.

The "Aloha Spirit" is commonly understood as:

• Akahai, kindness, to be expressed with tenderness;
• Lôkahi, unity, to be expressed with harmony;
• `Olu`olu, agreeable, to be expressed with pleasantness;
• Ha`aha`a, humility, to be expressed with modesty;
• Ahonui, patience, to be expressed with perseverance.

So when A'liki told me to "Let the Aloha grow all over you," it touched me deeply, and I promised myself to try to do that not just during our vacation but once we'd returned home as well.