A week away on the Big Island of Hawaii courtesy of a Twitter contest held by Marriott – a once in a lifetime dream, instead a week of learning life lessons and the meaning of No Worries, my quick recap:

1. I won a 6 day, 5 night vacation to Hawaii for two from Marriott via Twitter (@marritthawaii).
2. I chose to take my 10 year old daughter and my mother with my husband and me and add an extra day.
3. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer on October 16th. The trip was seen as a blessing for her to relax and enjoy herself before surgery and treatments.
4. During our flights (4 in total) to reach Kona on the Big Island, my mom started to feel sick to her stomach. We thought it was because of traveling so long.
5. When we arrived at our hotel, we got her to bed with some medicine for her stomach and to rest. By the next morning, it was apparent that we needed to get her to the hospital right away. She and I went via ambulance.
6. At the ER, she was tested for everything, including blood clots, infections, etc. All tests came back fine and she was released with the diagnosis of “confusion” due to travel and jet lag.
7. She remained pretty sick most of the week and spent only part of one day in the lobby, out to Walmart (yes, even sick and in Hawaii, you can’t keep my mom away from shopping!) and a short visit to the hotel restaurant where she ate practically nothing.

There’s a saying in Hawaii, No Worries. Instead of saying, no problem or it’s alright, when you apologize or say that you are sorry about something, that’s the reply you’ll get. No worries became my life lesson on my vacation. I was so anxious about my mother, about not taking my USB cable for my camera, about losing my photos (yup, they’re still gone), about Shawn getting stung by a bee (he’s highly allergic and the Paramedics had to come for him too the same time I was at the hospital with my mom), about not working, about how and when we’d get home because of my mother being sick, about life in general, that I almost missed out on having a good time.

This photo below is a close up view from our hotel room:

Instead when I felt that nudge of concern coming over me I remembered, No Worries. When my brain felt like it would explode, I chanted, No Worries. In Hawaii, No Worries and now at home, No Worries. It’s more important about being there in time, in place, with those you love, with those you want to be around, than to spend time being nervous. It’s more peaceful when you believe in No Worries whether you’re in peaceful Hawaii, or in the middle of a busy emergency room.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 9:42 pm and is filed under Beliefs, My Life & Times. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.