My family took a trip to Oahu to visit the Disney resort (Aulani).
It was an eventful arrival as there was miscommunication about the rooms and the people staying in them.
My family was a little on edge as family drama surfaced and one thing after another led to arguments and frustration between my brother and my father.
By the end of the first evening, there was certainly a mental and physical separation from our room and my brothers room. The talk of the evening was all about the days events and how emotions got heated.
All I wanted was for my little 3 year old to enjoy the pools and Disney characters.
Once we all finally settled for bed, the feelings of the day drifted and was in the past.
The next morning we had a breakfast scheduled for 8:45 to see the characters. We were all getting ready and going over whether my bother would join us for breakfast. It was a warm sunny morning and looking out from the balcony, was a quiet motionless entertainment landscape. The pools were untouched and the breeze from the sliding door was refreshing.
I was standing next to the door when I heard an alert chime throughout the room. My first reaction was confusion as I did not pick up on what it was. My wife pulled her phone out and read the message aloud.
"Emergency Alert"
"BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
I paused for a second and read the message again, hearing the alerts coming across to other phones in the room I instantly thought, Pearl Harbor. I looked up at everyone and firmly said, "WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!" "WE NEED TO GET TO THE BASEMENT"
I looked around the room in one motion asking myself "what do I need?" within a split second the only thing I could think of is the phone on the TV stand, I grabbed it and swiftly picked up my daughter and said, "We're going to the basement right now!"
I put my daughter onto my shoulders and left the room. The family followed but with not much urgency. As I quickly walked down the hall so many thoughts went through my mind about how it could be possible, how it could be now after recent news. I also assumed it was North Korea of course. I tried to recall what percentage of tests were successful in shooting down ballistic missiles and if that was even possible in Hawaii.
Once I got to the stairs I noticed I was barefoot, but it didn't matter. As I descended down the stairs I looked back to be sure everyone was coming. I slowly got too far ahead as I went from the 6th floor down to 3 and finally to the floor. I stopped at the "cast members only" and was ready to continue down but waited for everyone to show. There was no one, I walked over to the exit door and looked up the stairs to see only other families coming down.
"Where are they?" "What's taking so long?"...... "did they go to the 3rd floor?" The main floor? "Should I go up and check?" "NO... there is no time." I decided to just wait right there. As more people came down I looked at my daughter and she asked "Where's mommy?" I responded "She's coming sweetie"
With all the people flooding down, she started to look scared. I looked into her eyes, not knowing if or when something could happen and I kissed her and told her I loved her and held her tight.
In my mind I thought, this could be the last time I see this beautiful girl and there is no one else I would rather be with than her at this moment if it was our last.
I pulled up the phone I grabbed which was my grandmas phone. There was a passcode on it and I couldnt unlock it. I saw a missed call from Karen, my wife and swiped, it called her back. Unfortunately the call failed and I felt that was my only chance. There was no other way to try calling again. Until I noticed weight in my pocket, I had my phone. I pulled it out and tried calling, tried texting. nothing was going through. I opened the exit to look outside then walked over to the stairway down in case I needed to go.
After a couple of minutes my phone rang, my wife got through. It was hard to hear her but she said they were outside in front of the hotel. I instantly told her to come back to the stairs and to hurry.
She didnt hear me but was able to tell me that "they" said there was a bomb shelter at the golf course they were going to.
In my mind I thought of how much time had gone by and that after the 15 or 20 minutes it was likely that the missile had been taken out.
I decided to go to them. I quickly walked to the front and trampled over the bushes to bypass the winding road that led out to the main road and saw them. We had finally gotten back together.
As soon as we started walking, others were coming back. I said, why are we following these people. We need to get back in the basement. They followed me there. When we got back to the exit door there were employees standing around looking at their phones and mentioned that "its over" "it was called off".
I was both hopeful and skeptical. After all, who was passing all of this information? How did they hear about it and not us? Again, I was hoping that they were right.
As we got back into the hotel, people said, they are saying go back to your rooms, its a false alarm. At this point we were about 30 minutes into this and my emotions took over and settled with that information.
We went to the elevators and went back to the 6th floor. Discussions in the elevator from other guests brewed and put a sense of ease to the situation.
As we got back into the room, an alert came across the phone again with that same alarming sound... My heart stopped for a second while I read the message.
"Emergency Alert"
"There is no missile threat or danger to the State of Hawaii. Repeat. False Alarm."
While I was upset about the situation, I was relieved that there was nothing to worry about.
But the drama from the past 40 minutes or so would test my emotions and sense of reality for days to come.
What did my wife feel that she was not with her baby in those moments?
Why did they stop at the 3rd floor, when they were just seconds behind us?
That moment in the stairs could have been the last time I saw my daughter and I was calm and took in every second of it. Looking at her gave me a sense of calmness. If that was our last time here, it was not as terrifying as I had thought it would be in the moment.
There is so much to live for and every moment we spend with loved ones should be cherished. We have this time together and if its true that this is all there is, then these moments are the most precious and most special because of all there is in our universe, we are here now. We must make the most of it and feel quite lucky that we are blessed enough to be able to live during this time.
All my daughter wants in life right now is to be happy and loved.
She wants to be a big girl and pull her own weight...
Look out the plane windows...
Meet Moana...
Hug Mickey...
Enjoy the roaming chickens...
Go swimming...
Spend time with mommy...
Sit on daddy's shoulders...
And on occasion, pose for pictures...
Ultimately what makes her happy is what I am here for.
This trip has allowed me to step back and be sure that I am doing everything I can to let her enjoy the simple things in life and be loved like a kid should be.