A Trip to Hawaii ...
My 16 yr old daughter has been in Kona, Hawaii for a week and due back on Saturday. So that’s almost 9 days FAR away from me for the first time. Sure she’s stayed at grandma’s for a couple weeks or gone camping, but never away from me on an airplane and over an ocean. She’s gone with her Girl Scout Troop and her two Leaders. They’ve been planning on this for the last 5 years, knowing that this year was their last together as a troop. Some of them have been together for 12 years! All but one will be seniors in high school this next term and this was a culmination of years of saving. They earned the money by cookie sales, fundraisers, and even a rummage sale. I’m happy that she could do this because its not something we could have afforded to do for her on our own. They even became local celebrities and appeared on the local news. Thing was, they had everything done and paid for when one of those airlines they booked through, went belly up. Needless to say there was a little panic after that. Finally they were able to rebook the flight the same time (as they had the condo booked and deposits on trips and excursions, so they had to go at same time), but found out it would be about $5,000 more for the tickets. After getting clearance from their Council, they went to the media and public for help. They were interviewed by local paper and then a backlash started. People wrote into the editorial saying things like “how dare they ask for money, when the state is cutting programs for elderly” and “they should be ashamed for begging…” yada yada. I was pissed. I wrote back saying that these girls are all good kids, not in trouble, good grades, etc. and did anyone know about the community volunteer work they’d done in the past? Probably not. So why punish them for something that was out of their control. Why not blame the airline for going bankrupt, yada yada. So anyway, the local t.v. station came to interview them and the girls appeared on the news. Of course it was only seconds for each shot of them, but my little girl was on TV! lol She’s been having a great time, doing things she may never ever get a chance to do again. Even if she does get to go to Hawaii again, it’ll never be the same as that first time seen through the eyes of a young woman, starting on the path to adulthood. 
My 16 yr old daughter has been in Kona, Hawaii for a week and due back on Saturday. So that’s almost 9 days FAR away from me for the first time. Sure she’s stayed at grandma’s for a couple weeks or gone camping, but never away from me on an airplane and over an ocean. She’s gone with her Girl Scout Troop and her two Leaders. They’ve been planning on this for the last 5 years, knowing that this year was their last together as a troop. Some of them have been together for 12 years! All but one will be seniors in high school this next term and this was a culmination of years of saving. They earned the money by cookie sales, fundraisers, and even a rummage sale. I’m happy that she could do this because its not something we could have afforded to do for her on our own. They even became local celebrities and appeared on the local news. Thing was, they had everything done and paid for when one of those airlines they booked through, went belly up. Needless to say there was a little panic after that. Finally they were able to rebook the flight the same time (as they had the condo booked and deposits on trips and excursions, so they had to go at same time), but found out it would be about $5,000 more for the tickets. After getting clearance from their Council, they went to the media and public for help. They were interviewed by local paper and then a backlash started. People wrote into the editorial saying things like “how dare they ask for money, when the state is cutting programs for elderly” and “they should be ashamed for begging…” yada yada. I was pissed. I wrote back saying that these girls are all good kids, not in trouble, good grades, etc. and did anyone know about the community volunteer work they’d done in the past? Probably not. So why punish them for something that was out of their control. Why not blame the airline for going bankrupt, yada yada. So anyway, the local t.v. station came to interview them and the girls appeared on the news. Of course it was only seconds for each shot of them, but my little girl was on TV! lol She’s been having a great time, doing things she may never ever get a chance to do again. Even if she does get to go to Hawaii again, it’ll never be the same as that first time seen through the eyes of a young woman, starting on the path to adulthood. 
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