I went to Maui to stay a week and remained five. I never spent so pleasant a month before, or bade any place goodbye so regretfully. I have not once thought of business, or care or human toil or trouble or sorrow or weariness, and the memory of it will remain with me always.

Mark Twain

We are on our way home from a wonderful week in Maui. Mr. Twitchy and I like to go in February to see the whales that migrate there every winter from Alaska to have their babies. As Mr. Twitchy says, the whales need him to direct traffic every few years so that they don’t get lost.

Hawaii, especially Maui, can be magical. It was raining when we landed, but the rain gave us some interesting rainbows as seen from above. Have you ever seen a rainbow on the ground? Rainbows will pop up where you least expect them. Even horizontal rainbows in the mountains.

We wake up early every morning, eager to go out to the beach, which we never do in Los Angeles. I went to a yoga class at the beach at 7:00 am most mornings. I could not help watching for the whales while doing down dogs and chaturangas. Some mornings the Yoga instructor would lead us on guided meditations, with the trade winds and the sound of the waves cocooning us. I looked up to see Monarch Butterflies flitting around in the trees above. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Sunset yoga was also offered a couple of afternoons, so of course I had to go to that as well. Sunsets can be spectacular there, so why not. The experience was equally wonderful.

But the most important part of being there, stated by Mr. Twitchy, is that we can sit at the pool or the beach all day, watching the waves and hoping to spot whales. At home, neither of us has the patience or desire to do anything like this.

And the end result, I feel great after a week here. So good, I even forgot to take my meds with me yesterday when we went out for lunch and I was fine. Very few off times or noticeable tremors. I went to a painting class one afternoon at an art gallery in our hotel, and had no trouble drawing or using paint pens. I brought colored pencils and papers with me, like I do on most trips, hoping to do some drawing on my own. This time I actually did it, unlike many times before. We went kayaking and snorkeling and even went on an outrigger canoe. My husband drew the line for me on Stand Up Paddleboarding though. That just was not a great idea for someone with Parkinson’s. I had to agree with him on that one.

Whales!

We saved the best for our last morning there. Although February is peak season for whale sightings, there were not many this past week. Most of the whales we saw were too far out in the ocean to see much more than their spouts and splashes as they dove under water. On our last morning we went kayaking again from our hotel beach. We were almost ready to give up when two humpback whales surfaced very close to our group of kayaks. They would go underwater and pop up somewhere else. Just as we were starting back to the hotel, they emerged not more than 20 feet in front of us! Two of them swimming in tandem. Wow! Unfortunately, no pictures because it happened so fast.

Yes, Maui does heal everything as this t-shirt says. It was almost like I took a vacation from Parkinson’s for the week. And it was wonderful.

I believe Hawaii is the most precious jewel in the world.   

Don Ho

Twitchy Woman this month:

It is a big month for Twitchy Woman with 2 podcasts coming out in the next two days, speaking at a conference in Fresno, CA and my first post on Parkinsonsdisease.net.

2/18 Podcast DX podcast

2/19 When Life Gives You Parkinson’s podcast

2/22 Conference speaker at  Better Lives, Together: Fresno Parkinson’s Summit

Parkinsonsdisease.net What Keeps Me Motivated While Living with Parkinson’s?

The Mighty A Letter to Ozzy Osbourne After His Parkinson’s Diagnosis

Photos!

Photos by Sharon Krischer, February 2020