One day in the midst of the holiday season of 2021 we went to run in for a few things we needed at Costco. I was picking up pecans and almonds for the caramel corn, trust me, only really special people are getting nuts, and saw that the price of vanilla is much better this year than last. It was around $26.00 and the exact same bottle in 2020 and in 2021 a bottle was $15.95. I use a lot of vanilla when making caramel corn. I decided to go through regular checkout rather than self serve as there was only one person before me. As soon as I started unloading four other people lined up behind me. The lady in front of me had toilet paper and paper towels. They rang her up and then the cashier noticed the vanilla in the cart that had been hidden by the [...]

I post this same thing every December 7th because it really sums it up for me. I lived in Hawaii for about 25 years and Pearl Harbor was something that was part of the fabric of my life. I lived in Hawaii long enough to have met many Pearl Harbor survivors. It was such an honor to shake their hands, listen to their stories, give them hugs, and marvel at how young they were when they joined up and went through all they did. As a concierge in Hawaii, how to see Pearl Harbor was the number one question I answered. My guests came back with such gratitude more often than not. What I loved were the sullen teenagers who didn't want to be with their parents at all. They came back to the hotel, at least for a few hours, changed kids. I will never forget my first helicopter [...]