The Sister Trip to Hawaii - Installment l

Banyan Tree - Oahu

2001 was a very well traveled year for me.  A trip to Italy and a trip to Hawaii.  I accompanied my sister with a group of realtors to Oahu in May.  Many unusual incidents in Oahu.  One I will be blogging about in the near future. 

For my blog visual, I choose to begin with a tree, however, the story has nothing to do with this tree, it is a painting I have lost track of, a gallery that went south and I couldn't retrieve my work, probably, it happens.

I was thinking about 911 today and realized that this Hawaiian vacation was in 2001, four months before the horrific attack we endured.

My sister and I had befriended a young Brit who was traveling alone and staying in our hotel.  He shared many meals with us.  One evening we began talking about the random bombings in Great Britain.  We were curious, and asked him how could he live with the possibility of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, any day, any where in London?  His answer - It is something you learn to deal with because life goes on every day.  One story he shared with us was an evening in a local pub, the patrons realized that there was a package sitting at an unoccupied table  -  the pub was emptied in moments.

We were stunned by this story and extended our condolences.  I will never forget his response - You are such innocents, in time, this will be a normal way of living in your country (USA) also.  You are such innocents.

And we were, innocents, and we lost it four months later, September 11, 2001.