Maui Memories

Saturday night was our last happy hour on the beach, our last Maui sunset this time around, the last Maui sunset, I'm sure, for the extended Koepke family. And like every sunset on Maui, it was magical and unique. One of the many things sunsets teach us is that each day is unlike another. Each day brings promise. Each day presents unique challenges. But each can be magical, whether on Maui or elsewhere.

We had gone to Lahaina that day for lunch. We ended up meeting up with two other family groups at the Cool Cat Cafe for fish tacos and their famous hamburgers.

Lunch at the Cool Cat, with the Koepke-Brooms, the Zellers and the Arnolds

Sitting in the park with Joan amidst the huge Banyon tree there. I wasn't as bored as I look.

That morning, Mark and his siblings had gathered on the beach to talk about their childhoods, their parents, the challenges the family had faced and where each of them are with respect to how they are processing events that occurred many years ago. It was the first time they had done this, and it turned out pretty well. I had told Mark that I wished my siblings and I had done this at some point, but we never did. We never talked about what each of us had accepted as our "normal," but was anything but normal. We never talked together about what each of us had experienced as children. And I think that is a shame. And that's why I'm glad Mark and his siblings did this.

The Koepke Siblings on the Beach

Mark, Sarah, Deb, Rebecca and Tim

A picture such as the one above, taken the night of the luau, was never taken of me and my siblings and never will be - if for no other reason than that my older brother, Danny, died 12 years ago. I am so glad for Mark and his brother and sisters that they had this opportunity spend this wonderful time together.

The Koepke Family, circa 1960-61. Mark is standing at far right.

Like I said, that last night on the beach was magical. The wind had picked up in the late afternoon, but we gambled that it would calm down, and it did - making for a wonderful last shared evening on the beach.

Mark on the beach

My sister-in-law, Marie, a reflexologist, works on Megan's feet

Mark and his sister Rebecca playing volleyball with the youngsters