Thursday, June 9, 2011

TTT: Save Laborless Labor Day Retreat


My favorite travel posts that I’ve put up here are probably about my favorite beach on this island. Not only is it a picture-perfect pristine beach, but it is filled with memories from the last twenty-five years.

Remember, you can click on any photo to enlarge...

My husband and I discovered it while dating and it became a favorite spot right away. Our day off ritual during the summers, when the giant waves receded and the ocean became our own private salt-water, snorkeling wonderland, were most often spent on this beach.


When I graduated from UH with my BA, we rented a beach house and stayed for two weeks with friends and family to celebrate. I love the photos from this trip (but not enough to go digging through boxes). That was 1988 and my friends and I all still had youth on our sides. We’d actually pose in our swim suits. My sister was working as a bartender in Florida at the time, and at the beach house she’d use her mad skills to make us the yummiest Pina Colodas in the tropics. She’d blend them like ice cream shakes, garnish them with fresh pineapple, and bring them down to us on the beach at sunset. We’d stretch out on our lounges like a string of Ban de Solie sun worshipers and sip our drinks through straws; then, with a nice little buzz, we’d all dive in for one last swim before we retreated to the deck for dinner.


Two years later my dad rented that same beach house for a family gathering to celebrate the birth of my daughter. I remember the first evening was surreal in its serendipitous and mystical magic. A few nights earlier I had dreamed that I was visiting with my Uncle (who had passed away several years before). I was flying through the clouds, just floating along and I ran into him. We sat cross legged on a cloud and he told me he was so glad we were all going to get to spend time together and for “us girls” to take care of our dad (his younger brother). During this dream in the clouds it was sunset and the colors were so magnificent that when I woke up it had stayed with me for hours. Crimson, mauve, purple, gold, and dusky blue in long sweeping strokes and swirls. It was like being inside an impressionist painting, but instead of Mary Poppin’s London version, I was immersed in the soul of the Universe.


That first night at the beach house I had my four-month old baby girl on my hip and was whipping up something in the kitchen when everyone called me to come outside and see the sunset. It was like stepping into a rose tinted glass ball. It was, to a tee, the exact sunset from my dream. I had no doubt by Uncle was up there smiling down at us.


Fast forward sixteen years later and several of my friends decided to rent a beach house on the North Shore for Labor Day weekend. This was the summer of 2006, the year I had been diagnosed with breast cancer. That summer I had just finished chemotherapy and had begun radiation treatments. As one of my friends put it to me, “We’ve been talking about doing this for years and your getting sick made us realize we can’t put things like this off. We need to do it while we are all still alive to enjoy it.”


They selected a house with a lanai (deck) that was perched high with an amazing view, but was surrounded by palm trees and made you feel like you were in a tree house. This was especially important for me as I was not supposed to be in the sun during radiation treatments. They selected the house because the beach was to die for: sapphire blue sparkling water perfect for snorkeling, a wide sandy beach with an endless walk for exercise (if one was inclined) and shell collecting. They selected the house as it was affordable and the property manager was willing to rent it to us for the weekend versus many of the houses that wouldn’t rent for less than a week.


And yes. Coincidentally, they rented the exact same house I had rented with my family on two very special vacations all those years before. My friends had picked the exact beach and house that were my favorite on the entire island.

We called it Laborless Labor Day and have been returning without husbands, without children, and having a glorious time for three glorious days and nights these last five years.



Last year the woman who owned the house passed away.

Her adult children selected a new property manager.

The new property manager raised the price considerably and will not rent to us for the mere three days.

We are trying to save Laborless Labor Day weekend. Perhaps it is not meant to be and time is moving us toward other adventures.

But I am giving it a bit of a fight first and emailing a link to this post and all comments to the new property manager.

Leave a comment if you would like me to post from our special beach house this Labor Day!

Please link on up with your own travel tips, adventures; stories from the past, present or future. Daycations and staycations.

18 comments:

Kristan said...

Omigosh, Pseudo!! First I was in love with your story about your uncle and the dream and the sunsets, and now I feel so upset that you might not be able to rent this house again. :(

It's just one weekend out of the year. I really really really really REALLY really hope that the property manager will have a heart and let you and your girlfriends rent it. Loyal customers who will take care of the place and come back year after year are worth their weight in gold.

Beth said...

Hi Pseudo! I love your pictures and your descriptions and the while idea of a yearly retreat without the husbands. It is tradition! How can a property manager mess with tradition? I'd be pretty upset. I wonder if you can call the adult children and plead your case to them? Perhaps they'd have a heart.

Brian Miller said...

how cool it was the same house...hopefully you will be able to reant it again...ugh...i agree on pleading your case...

Nubian said...

What a wonderful story. I hope you get to continue your girl vacations. It is so vital for all of us to get away and a week is sometimes unmanageable. I hope you can plead your case to the new management company otherwise we are just all going to have to blog and twitter about it. ;~)

Anonymous said...

I love this story and I'm sure your uncle was there.
Perhaps he can intervene with the property manager. Maybe you could add some photos of you all enjoying yourselves at the house. Sometimes the visual can be a huge selling point.

xo

Sprite's Keeper said...

I really hope the new property manager has a heart, definitely show that post about when you came during your treatments. I would think it's safe to say that being there with your friends during one of the most stressful times of your life helped you beat the cancer. Beautiful pictures, beautiful memories, get back to that beach house!

Anna Lefler said...

OMG, you have to have this house! I've drooled all over my keyboard looking at the photos!

Also, I just wanted to say thank you so much for your congratulatory comment on my blog! I truly appreciate that.

I'll keep you posted on the book craziness, of course.

In the meantime, take care and hope all is well...and get that dang house, lady!!

XO Anna

Michele said...

We are all connected one way or another, whether that is by place, by time, or by love. Having a place and time to get together with love is very important. I hope that the manager changes his mind because messing with this continuum is really bad karma.

Melissa B. said...

What a very special tale. Fie on that landlord for trying to prevent your Laborless Labor Day Weekend. I call for a all-out boycott. Do you have a petition I can sign? Hope you're closing to embarking on summer vacay. We've got a little more than a week left...

tera said...

Oh please, oh please, Mr Property Manager Man, it is so rare and special to find magical places these days - please let Lovely Pseudo and her friends have their magical Laborless Labor Day vacation!

Captain Dumbass said...

Come on Property Manager, Karma is watching.

Beth Niquette said...

I really enjoyed reading your blog. The pictures are magnificent!

Thank you so much for dropping by my art blog, and for your encouraging comments.

I have a 21-year old son. (grin) They sure do grow up quickly, don't they? Have a lovely week!

Claudya Martinez said...

I would love for you to post from your special beach house this Labor Day! What a history you have with this place. Some day when my husband takes me and his daughter's to Hawaii and shows us where he grew up, maybe I will have the pleasure of seeing your lovely spot.

You are a wonderful writer. My favorite bit is, "...I was immersed in the soul of the Universe."

Shadow said...

picture-perfect indeed! i especially love the one with the stormy skies...

hillgrandmom said...

Beautiful, beautiful pictures!

darsden said...

Beautiful and Peaceful, I can almost smell it. What wonderful memories you have there with your husband and family. Just lovely!

Joanna Jenkins said...

I so hope your tradition isn't broken.... There's such a rich and beautiful history here that I hope this all works out for you. It's a gorgeous spot but please, please, please Property Manager be flexible for a very special group of people.

Fingers crossed, jj

shaunna said...

you forgot to mention that you were starting your blog on that lanai, 'member?

so many memories.

sorry I haven't been around (but) in the serendipity spirit of things, I'd just finished going through my pics from that Laborless Labor Day weekend before heading over here.

;(