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<\/a>I first came to Hawaii when I was five years old. \u00a0Because of his construction business, my father belonged to an organization that was known in those days as the Southern California Paving and Grading Association. \u00a0I think that he once served as its president, and I think that it was the group that once sponsored a seminar on construction-site safety in Honolulu. \u00a0The headliner on that junket was Dr. George M. Uhl<\/a>, the chief health officer for Los Angeles at the time.<\/p>\n My parents generously brought me and my older brother along on the trip. \u00a0I don\u2019t recall any other kids in the group, but they insisted that we come. \u00a0That\u2019s the way they were. \u00a0I was five years old.<\/p>\n I was the only little boy on that chartered airliner \u2014 a prop plane, believe it or not; if memory serves, it was a \u00a0(Lockheed L-1049) Super Constellation \u2014 and, in that simpler and more innocent age, the pilots and the flight attendants singled me out for special attention. \u00a0At one point, incredibly, I even sat on the co-pilot\u2019s lap and was allowed to steer the plane \u2014 or, more precisely, to try to maintain a consistent altitude according to the instrument on the control panel before us. \u00a0Within reason, of course: I clearly recall that I kept trying to put the craft into a modest dive. \u00a0But the co-pilot always quickly and gently corrected my efforts. \u00a0I\u2019m sure that the passengers noticed nothing.<\/p>\n I remember, too, gazing out the window of the airliner (back with my parents) as we made our approach into Honolulu. \u00a0The boats and buildings below seemed to me mere toy models. \u00a0I couldn\u2019t believe that they were real; I had never seen the world from such a height before. \u00a0It took me a long time to overcome that very strong impression.<\/p>\n We visited Oahu and Kauai on that trip, and they were magical for me. \u00a0We were draped with leis upon arrival. \u00a0(I don\u2019t think that\u2019s ever happened to me again.) \u00a0Among many other things, I fell in love with fresh pineapple. \u00a0I\u2019m not sure that I had ever tasted fresh<\/em> pineapple before. \u00a0On one occasion, going through a buffet line, I found that there were two types<\/em> of pineapple, one of which was a slightly odd color. \u00a0I loaded up two heaping helpings; to my disorienting shock, however, the new kind of pineapple was pickled<\/em> (or something of that sort). \u00a0I\u2019ve never forgotten the incredibly unpleasant surprise.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t return to Hawaii again until I was seventeen years old \u2014 but for reasons quite unrelated to a deep fear of pickled pineapple. \u00a0(Since then, though, I literally have no idea how many times I\u2019ve been back.) \u00a0I came with a group of high school students; I know that we visited Oahu and the Big Island of Hawaii. \u00a0(On the latter island, our hotel was right across the street from a cemetery in Hilo where I was fascinated by the Asian Buddhist<\/a> grave markers.) \u00a0I don\u2019t think that we visited Kauai on that trip.<\/p>\n But we definitely spent time in Lahaina, on Maui, staying in the Pioneer Inn. \u00a0One day, I walked along the beach all the way to a place called Kaanapali. \u00a0There were a few resorts in Kaanapali already, I think, but not much. \u00a0Nothing remotely like the massive complexes that stand here now. \u00a0I still remember looking up, as I walked, from the beach toward the rugged foothills of the West Volcano. \u00a0They were covered with agricultural fields, green and shimmering in the heat. \u00a0Those fields are covered with buildings in many places now.<\/p>\n I lost my wallet that day. \u00a0I walked slowly back to Lahaina along the beach, looking for it. \u00a0I never figured out how or where I lost it, and I never found it. \u00a0(I lived on very little for the last several days of the trip!) \u00a0Several months later, long after I had replaced my driver\u2019s license, I received my wallet back in the mail. \u00a0The money was gone, of course, and there was no name or return address on the envelope in which it arrived.<\/p>\n This current trip is my first visit to Maui since the terrible fires of August 2023, when \u00a0approximately 80% of Lahaina was destroyed and 102 people were killed. \u00a0There is a makeshift memorial off to the side of the main road up on the hillside; it features the photographs of many of the victims.<\/p>\n Lahaina was once fairly densely filled with buildings. \u00a0Now, in some places, it\u2019s almost difficult to see where it ever was. \u00a0I keep thinking of places that I once knew in the town. \u00a0The Pioneer Inn, for example, had thirty-four rooms, and was the oldest hotel in Lahaina and on the island of Maui altogether and the oldest in continuous operation in the state of Hawaii. It was a U.S. National Historic Landmark. \u00a0It was also constructed of wood \u2014 and it was utterly consumed by the flames. \u00a0But I think, too, of some of the little cafes and grills that we\u2019ve enjoyed over the years, and the museum and the boat docks.<\/p>\n On the other hand, the destruction was random and, in some ways, spotty. \u00a0For instance, the big Safeway complex seems unchanged. \u00a0And, although I haven\u2019t yet gotten close to it to be able to get a good look, one of the large churches \u2014 Maria Lanakila Catholic Church, perhaps? \u2014 appears to be basically intact. \u00a0(For those who are interested: \u00a0The two Latter-day Saint chapels in greater Lahaina were also spared by the fire, but for clearly geographical reasons. \u00a0Several of our chapels on Maui were significantly used for relief and shelter at the time of the fire.)<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>