I was a Hawaii resistor. The kind who said, “I’m not a lie-on-the-beach person. It’s not at the top of my list.” Then one winter I accompanied my daughter’s gymnastics team to an invitational meet on the island of Oahu. Well, on that trip I discovered my truth about Hawaii. I was a fan! In […]

I’m not sure what first attracted me to Fiji, but whatever it was, the notion of visiting that far-off place with the resonant name had long been one of my most cherished travel dreams. So it was with no small degree of amazement, anticipation, and apprehension that I set foot with my wife on the […]

One of my grandmother’s favorite expressions, unfailingly delivered with exuberant exaltation, was, “I will to live in a world that wills to live!” She would sing it out whenever she saw anything like a tree growing out of a rock. I think of her when I see the first buttercup of spring, reclaiming its territory […]