A family member of mine was getting married in Hawaii and my little family and I were invited. I had the wife, and a five-week old son. Several other family members were there as well.

We took the usual tours and had a fine time.

I have read many Mark Twain stories, and he has some history in these islands. He has many interesting comments about the inhabitants that live here. You might find them interesting along with his adventures here. His book, “Letters from Hawaii” is a good place to start.

Of course there is the banyan tree here that is reported to have been planted by him. That is disputed. He did plant a monkey pod tree in Waiohinu, in 1866, on the big Island. He sent dispatches back to the Sacramento Union on a regular basis.

He also wanted to start a steamship line between Hawaii and California. Sadly Mark Twain was a poor businessman for most of his life and was saddled with a few people who often squandered some of his hard worked for wealth.

The reason I mention this trip, is to talk about on event that ocured on our trip.

Some of us joined a tour group for a few days. After several outings, it was apparent who the stragglers were. There was one fellow who was always late and a little confused.

It turned out that he had been cleaned out by his secretly, departing wife while he was in hospital and his children had sent him over to the islands, to regroup.

On the final night of our trip most of us ate in a beautiful restaurant at the airport. We sat scattered throughout the restaurant. My brother, my wife, and I ordered and began the wait. The waiters passed us by many times after taking our orders but never stopped again.

The cocktail waitress did stop by and we decided to partake of some stronger than usual liquids. We were thirsty after all. The warm Hawaiian sun can make you work up a thirst, don’t you know. I am a non drinker and so was an easy victim of the alcohol.

After a long time waiting, the din in the background of the restaurant was rising.

You could hear the mumbling of hungry people off in the distance like native drums. The night passed slowly, but eventually we received our food. But by that time we had forgotten what we had ordered and had a few too many drinks.

One is a few too many for me, hence the sarsaparilla mention in another little story posted here somewhere.

It turned out to be the first night that the restaurant was open. Hence the chaos. The only person served in a timely manner was our friend who was always late and who had been treated badly by his wife. He couldn’t believe how good the service and the food were.

I guess the message to take away from this is that the world works in strange and mysterious ways and in time it might make some sense.

Letters From Hawaii is the book that Mark Twain wrote about these islands. It is a joy to read.

“The Adventures of the Smith Family” is my first book and has received some nice reviews on Amazon. You can read some of it for free on my website.

It is available on Kindle for free and on your I phone and in paperback for a small fee. Enjoy.