George chuckled as his son lovingly patted his back. But when William turned his face away, I saw him drying a tear with the back of his hand.
That night with George and William turned out to be the most wonderful Christmas Eve of my life. William had made a delicious “Christmas pasta,” and we shared the bottle of wine I brought. George hardly touched his food, though, and only had a few sips of wine.
When I asked him why he wasn’t eating much, he said, “Nothing really tastes good anymore, but I use my memory of it to try and enjoy it anyway. But it’s not important. The company is what I enjoy the most.”
It was heartbreaking to see him so thin, but he still had that strong light in his eyes. I knew he didn’t have long before he would pass over and reunite with his beloved Aimee. And I knew I would be there, right by his side, to the very end.
In spite of the cloud hanging over our heads, it was wonderful to spend the night laughing and catching up. George and William enjoyed hearing about all the changes I’d made at TechnoGuard and laughed when I told them about how I had introduced the aloha spirit to the company.
“Inspired by Aimee,” I said, and smiled warmly at the two men.
George’s eyes welled up as he reached his thin hand toward me. I pulled my chair closer and took his hand in mine.
I noticed William’s eyes water, too, before he put on a cheerful smile. “And business woman of the year,” he whistled. “When I saw you on the cover of Forbes magazine, I was so happy and proud of you.”
“Yes,” George said and beamed, “and then he bought ten copies and spread them all over the house, just to make sure I didn’t miss it.”
We all laughed.
“Well, it all started here,” I said and looked around before my eyes landed on William. “But I have to admit that, at first, your talk about culture, inspired employees, and fun at work sounded like a crazy dream to me.”
“And then you just went out and made it happen—times ten,” William grinned. “Well done you!” He lifted his glass toward me.
George nodded and raised his glass too. “I remember once hearing Walt Disney say, ‘If you can dream it, you can do it.’”
Then he looked both William and me deeply in the eyes. “Here’s to having the courage to follow all of your dreams!”
“Cheers!” We clinked our glasses, and William and I looked first at George and then at each other and smiled.
After we finished the rice pudding, which actually turned out to be quite tasty, we just sat there, sipping our wine and looking out at the dark ocean. Only the sound of the waves broke the silence. When I looked back at my two favorite men in the whole world, I felt like the luckiest woman alive.
After a while, George said he was tired and should get ready for bed.
“Maya, would you mind coming in and giving me a goodnight kiss after William helps me change into my pajamas?” George asked when William helped his father up.
“You incurable flirt,” William teased as he walked his dad to his room.
I smiled and said, “Of course, George. I’ll be there when you’re ready.”
After I had cleared the table, I went back out on the veranda, sat down on the couch, and looked up at the starry sky. “Merry Christmas, up there,” I whispered.
I wondered if Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Aimee—and Josh—could hear me.
Soon after, William came out and placed a warm hand on my shoulder. “Dad would like his goodnight kiss now,” he said and gently squeezed my hand as I passed by him.
When I walked into George’s room, he’d already fallen asleep.
He woke up when I sat down and carefully took his hand in mine. His hand felt just like Mom’s hand had felt toward the end. Frail. Like a little bird. And when he looked at me, even his eyes reminded me of Mom’s.
Instead of their lights slowly fading away, it was as if their inner lights were turned on. Shining brighter than ever.
“How are you feeling, George?” I asked, stroking his hand softly.
“Happy, tired, and excited,” he said.
I smiled lovingly down at him.
“Happy you and William are here, tired of being sick, and excited to soon be with my Aimee.”
I leaned over and gave him a hug.
“I love you, George,” I said.
“I love you, too, Maya.”
We held hands and looked at each other, with tears in our eyes.
“Maya.”
“Yes, George?”
“Do you remember the first time we spoke, and I told you that I wondered why God still kept me on earth? That I believed I still had a purpose to fulfill?”
“Yes, George. I remember.”
“I know what it is now,” he whispered.
I tilted my head, curious.
“It was you, Maya. You were my unfilled purpose.”
My eyes welled up.
“And now you are back, and I can go in peace.”
I couldn’t hold back the tears, but I was still able to smile as they raced down my cheeks.
“William loves you very much, Maya. But he is a sensitive soul. You have to give him some time,” he said, his voice growing weak.
I nodded and kissed his hand as I sat down beside him on the bed.
“I have all the time in the world. I will wait for him. I promise.”
George smiled, and I could tell he was drifting off to sleep.
William entered the room and sat down on the other side of George’s bed. We each held one of George’s hands and looked down at him. His eyes were closed. It looked like he had fallen asleep, but then he suddenly whispered, “Will you sing for me, William?”
“Of course I will, Dad.”
William started singing “Some Enchanted Evening” with a soft voice. Now and then his voice cracked, as if he was starting to cry. But he’d take a deep breath and keep on.
His voice was deep and warm, and I could see George slowly drift away, still smiling at the sound of his son’s voice.
I closed my eyes as tears kept running down my cheeks, and when I opened them again, I saw that William was looking directly at me. My eyes met his, and while he finished the last line of the song: “Once you have found her, never let her go,” we were both crying, still looking into each other’s eyes.
George had fallen into a deep sleep and we walked quietly out of the room and went down to the beach.
As we sat down on the soft sand, William took my hand and kissed it.
“I was wondering about something,” he said and looked into my eyes. “Would it be OK with you if we kind of speed through that ‘just friends’ phase and move onto the next?”
I didn’t need to answer. My eyes said it all.
And as I leaned over to kiss William for the very first time, it felt like two butterflies were dancing around us, only to ascend and disappear into the heavens.
BON VOYAGE, GEORGE
The same people who had attended Aimee’s ten-year remembrance ceremony three years earlier gathered around the bonfire to bid farewell to George.
George’s beach chair was in its usual place, facing the ocean. A small, silver urn had been placed on its seat.
Everyone was talking and enjoying their food and drinks. The atmosphere was lighthearted and warm, just like George would have wanted.
The tall minister with the ponytail said a prayer in Hawaiian, and when he finished, everyone walked slowly down to the shore, where an outrigger canoe, decorated with leis in every color of the rainbow, was waiting.
Two young Hawaiian men, shirtless and with leis around their necks, gracefully launched the canoe in the water and everyone watched as William carefully climbed into it, holding the urn in his hands.
Soft ukulele music was playing in the background.
Each guest took their turn placing a lei in the boat together with a personal greeting. “Safe travels, old friend,” “Ka Huaka’i Maika’i, George,” “Bon Voyage, George.”
When it was my turn,
I softly placed my lei down and whispered, “Thank you for everything, my dear, dear friend.” William’s eyes met mine and for a moment it felt as if George was there, too.
There was so much love.
When everyone had said their goodbyes, the two young men slowly paddled the canoe out to sea. William was sitting in the middle of them, cradling the urn with his father’s ashes in his arms.
When the boat was far enough out, the men stopped paddling.
We all stood in silence as we watched William lean over the edge of the canoe and gently pour George’s ashes into the Pacific Ocean.
After a few minutes of silence, the canoe slowly made its way back to the shore, and the ukulele player started playing “Some Enchanted Evening.”
My eyes welled up as I listened to the music. I turned my head toward Bali Ha’i and whispered a silent thank you. Thank you for calling for me, thank you for leading me here.
My eyesight was a bit blurry from all the tears, but farther down on the beach I could swear I saw a young couple dancing.
The man was wearing an old-fashioned sailor’s uniform, the woman’s white dress was ripped and dirty, but even from a distance, I could see their happy smiles and how they simply couldn’t keep their eyes off each other.
FLYING
There is freedom waiting for you, On the breezes of the sky.
ERIN HANSON
A NEW DAY
I woke up to the happy song from the red-crested cardinal, my bird friend, who reminded me that a new day had begun.
I put on my bikini and went for my morning swim. I was all alone on the beach, which I usually was at this time of the day. I sank my body down in the crystal blue water and swam with long strokes toward beautiful Mount Makana, our beloved Bali Ha’i.
“Good morning, gorgeous.” I smiled at her, while floating on my back, letting the underwater streams carry me farther down the beach. After a quick walk back up the beach, I returned to the house. Covered only in a towel, I put the coffee on the stove and stood there, watching it percolate, barefoot on the wooden floor, inhaling the scent of coffee mixed with ocean air, welcoming the new day.
After a quick shower, I put on a light summer dress and carefully kissed my two sleepyheads—the smaller, curly head resting on the arm of the bigger one. They didn’t move, so I snuck out of the house, got into the Jeep, and drove into Hanalei for my morning meeting with Lani.
Over acai bowls from the food truck parked right outside of town we went through the checklist together.
“I can’t believe this is actually happening!” I said to Lani, shaking my head. “If someone had told me we’d be doing this only two years ago, I would’ve said they were out of their minds.”
Lani grinned. “Yes, and had we not been a bit out of our minds, I don’t think we would have managed to pull this off.”
“You’re so right.” I lifted my coffee to toast. “Here’s to being out of our minds.” We laughed and continued eating our breakfast as we went through all the things we needed to do before the grand opening the next day.
After breakfast, we hopped in our cars and started driving down the road. I smiled to myself; I couldn’t believe this was my life now.
After about twenty minutes south on the main road, I turned onto a small side street that led up to a field. Lani was right behind me. After we parked, we just stood outside our cars and stared at the building in front of us.
“Kaua’i Chill, Connect, Create Retreat,” the large sign over the entrance said.
The building was floating into the landscape, as if nature itself had designed it, with its natural materials and soft edges. Large floor-to-ceiling windows opened up toward the ocean on one side and showcased the waterfall-covered mountains on the other. It was perfect. It looked like something out of a dream.
I pinched my arm and laughed. “I’m not dreaming this, am I?”
“If you can dream it, you can do it. Isn’t that what George said?” Lani smiled.
I nodded and swallowed. I missed him so much. I wish he had been here to see this. But then again, he probably was.
Lani and I looked at each other, took a deep breath, and held hands as we walked into the main building. The large room was filled with air and light, and the windows that pointed toward the ocean and the mountains gave the feeling that we were in nature, even when we were inside.
The way it all happened was like a dream itself. It was only a week after George had passed. William and I had been out driving, heading to one of the waterfalls, when I noticed the field. It was big, green, and lush, perfectly located between the ocean and the mountains. There were flowers everywhere and more butterflies than I’d seen in my entire life. I had a vision, and suddenly I knew what I wanted to do. It was all part of the life that was waiting for me.
The land had been for sale for quite some time. I made an offer and promised the seller that I would honor the land and the nature surrounding it. Soon after, I met with a local architect to start drawing the center, and a week later I went back to New York to wrap things up at TechnoGuard and sell my apartment.
I put most of my savings and the money I got from the sale of my apartment into the project and figured I would still be able to finance our activities for the first couple of years. I knew it took some time to build a new business.
I had agreed with Mr. Hatchett that I would hold on to my TechnoGuard shares, to not start any rumors or disrupt the great momentum of the company. I’d said yes to join the board for a two-year period and to become the next CEO’s “Lucy” for her first year. Our lunches, however, would have to be over videoconference. I was so grateful for the technology that gave me the freedom to work from where I wanted: from my place in paradise.
As soon as I’d signed the contract for the land, I invited Lani to become my business partner at the retreat. I hadn’t even finished asking before she shouted, “Yes!”
Not everyone had been as enthusiastic as Lani, though.
Dad was convinced that I’d gone insane. Again.
“Quitting your job as a CEO? Selling your apartment? Starting a retreat in Kaua’i?”
“Yes.”
“What if you fail?” he asked.
“What if I don’t?” I replied.
This was what I wanted to do. What other people, including my dad, thought about it didn’t matter to me.
This was my dream, this was my life, and I was going to live it!
The retreat would be a place where leaders from all around the world could come to meet, learn, be inspired, discuss around the bonfire, and wake up to a new way of being and leading.
I knew that the leaders who came here would be transformed by the time they left. We would be arranging meetings and workshops at the retreat, and in addition, I knew the island would be working her magic on them. Just as she had done on me.
Lani and I had decided to open the retreat to locals as well. On weekends the place would serve as a community center, where people from all walks of life could meet. It was our way of giving back to the island and its people.
Inside the main building, there were lounge areas, a library, a juice bar, and several community tables, where people could sit and work or read or meet. The right wall was covered with a giant rainbow painted by the Rainbow Children themselves. And the left wall was decorated with butterflies. A particularly beautiful orange butterfly stood out a bit from the rest, and below it one could read:
“I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.”
—Zhuang Zhou & Josh the Surfer
At the opposite side of the entrance, between two large windows showcasing the green mountains, a glass door led out to a lush field with four smaller buildings, all constructed in the same style and material as the main one. These were the Chill, Connect, and Create houses. And then we had the Cinema, which had been my personal project.
While Lani went over to inspect the bedrooms in the C
hill building, I took a deep breath and walked into the cinema.
Inside, there were four rows of big, comfortable red velvet chairs, and in between them small tables with tiny, old-fashioned lamps and—of course—a popcorn machine in the corner. It was a smaller version of my childhood cinema. Mom and Giorgio were there, too. The photo showed Mom wearing her 1950s dress, smiling with red lips, and Giorgio looking back at her with admiration.
I had sent Dad a letter, telling him about our project.
A week later he wrote back and included the photo, saying he might come and visit me on Kaua’i one day.
“I know how much those visits to the cinema meant to the two of you,” he wrote. I was surprised. Maybe he’d understood more than I’d given him credit for all these years.
The walls in the cinema were covered with behind-the-scenes pictures and official movie posters from South Pacific. George had told me about the boxes filled with old photos and posters he had saved all these years, and how he would have loved to make an exhibition of them one day. I had done more than that. Now the entire cinema was a tribute to one of the most wonderful movies ever made as well as a legacy to George and Aimee’s magical love story.
My favorite picture was the one of George and Aimee, taken right after he proposed to her on the beach. They both looked so incredibly happy. I thought this is probably what they still looked like, wherever they were.
I took another look around the room before I closed the door behind me and walked back to the main building. Once there, I heaved a sigh of relief.
What an incredible feeling it was, seeing my dream come to life, my visions being manifested, and knowing we were creating something that would bring happiness and joy into so many people’s lives.
Lani was on the couch with her laptop, her feet propped up on the table, drinking a kombucha. What a wonderfully chill colleague I’ve got, I thought as I joined her.
“Look here,” Lani said.
She was going through the list of executives who would arrive in a few days.
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