Eightieth birthdays on Maui

Thirty years ago, my family celebrated the eightieth birthday of my mother and her twin sister.  We encamped for a week in a low-rise hotel on Maui's Napili Bay, looking across the ocean waters at Moloka'i and Lanai islands.  And we gathered one night for the celebratory birthday dinner at the Ritz Carlton in nearby Kapalua. 

We had a great time. 

Next week, we gather again on Napili Bay to celebrate the eightieth birthday of another set of twins -- two guys who became close friends of mine as university undergraduates, and whose relationship to me and my family was cemented by the marriage of one young man to my sister.  

We will again celebrate this Big Eight-O with a dinner at the same hotel in Kapalua.

Thirty years ago, we younger folks did a day hike in Haleakala crater while the guests of honor relaxed on their deck overlooking the ocean.  They may have been thinking long thoughts about age and youth and the speedy flight of time.  If so, we young Indians (as we still viewed ourselves) were unaware, as we strode across the black sand trails of the crater.  This year?  The young Indians have all become wise and perhaps somewhat more sedentary elders.  Some of us still hike, but I've heard no suggestions that hiking is on the agenda.  Even the "kids," those invitees a generation behind us, seem more attracted to contemplation -- assisted by occasional gin and tonics -- than to strenuous trekking.

Our treks this year will probably be limited to a quarter mile morning hike to breakfast at The Gazebo (known to us, because of its profile, as The Witch's Hat) at Napili Point, on the southern end of the beach.  But, hiking aside, I anticipate a highly satisfying, if altogether too brief, vacation.  Why brief?  Because of a late start, I was able to reserve a room for only four nights -- keep in mind, you future visitors, that winter is High Season in Hawaii.  In past years, while my mother was alive, even a week felt much too brief -- I recall annoying others by my complaints: "Three days gone, only four more to go!"  

But sometimes a short visit has certain benefits.  Every moment is precious, and all the wonderful experiences feel condensed and heightened in intensity.  And so I hope it will be next week.

What can I tell you about this year's twins, this year's guests of honor?  Both were somewhat artistic when I first met them, and both seemed to flourish among the typical required courses of the undergrad liberal arts curriculum.  But one eventually became a radiology professor at Stanford's medical school, and the other became a much loved primary care physician and active member of the community in Sonoma, California.  We all stayed in touch, and skied together at Lake Tahoe for many years, until the Sonoma GP (then a resident of Berkeley) startled me by marrying my sister.

They were both pretty cool guys and good friends when I met them as undergraduates.  Their success in their careers and with their lives has been no surprise.  And now, 62 years later, we can celebrate the good times of the past, and look forward to the future, a future that is unpredictable but that we trust holds the possibility of many new satisfactions.

As the hopeful birthday wish goes, "And many more to come!"