Aloha! I do.

Landing at the Honolulu airport, I resolved to find some sunblock as soon as I'd gotten my things into the hotel. I had a little more than 24 hours left before the wedding, and the last thing I wanted was to show up in all of the wedding photots looking like a red-faced monkey in a tuxedo. It had been one of the more enjoyable flights I could remember: my seatmate was an off-duty flight attendant who was very talkative, and let me in on the latest news from Waikiki, and I had opted to upgrade myself to first class for a low rate because some poor sucker had cancelled at the last minute. I could care less about the leather seats, but they were much more comfortable than the standard coach fare, and I was even able to sleep a little, thanks to a bottomless champagne glass. So far everything had gone as well as I could have hoped, and I was determined to make my first visit to Hawai'i a good one.

I was picked up at the airport by the groom and his parents and the bride's mother and brother. I'm in the wedding on the bride's side, by the way (bride's man, maybe?). They were on their way to Pearl Harbor. We took a tour of the Missouri, led by an old guy who either knew everything about the Missouri or was an excellent liar. I have to say that it was pretty amazing seeing the ship's construction and reflecting on the fact that it was still being used as recently as the Gulf War. I had to wonder how it was still floating, though, when we passed the Packard Bell in the communications room. Please, if there is a God in heaven don't let that have been the actual computer used. The last thing our men in uniform need when under heavy fire is to try to figure out why there are no IRQs left over after the modem/sound card has taken up 5 of them. I mean for God's sake, who combines a modem with a sound card!?! But I digress. By the end of the tour I was feeling thoroughly entertained, but also thorougly burned. As in sunburned. As in it somehow slipped my mind during the fascinating tour to make sure I got some sunblock before I did anything else. It's two days later as I'm writing this and it still feels like I'm wearing a sandpaper dog collar. Aloe is my friend, my only true friend.

More to come...