Sweet Messengers in Maui

I haven’t written for a while. I have had the most amazing few days!

It started on Sunday, September 2^nd… I work Sundays, they are better days for selling… plus, this Sunday in particular, I like the distraction from my personal life… I walk to the bus stop, and standing there waiting for the bus already was a woman with a bag of snorkel gear…  Always being on the lookout for someone I can turn on to the best time on Maui, (RAFTING with the DOLPHINS) I ask if she is visiting and start conversation with, Annette.

Annette is here from Germany vacationing solo. I admired how independent this 29 year old married woman was vacationing SOLO. Our conversation flowed so beautifully that by the time Annette was to get off at Ma’alea, she decided to continue with me to Lahaina where I sell raft rides.

Here’s the spiel: “We cruise the rugged coastline, stopping frequently at our favorite snorkel sights. Many dolphins live around Lanai, cruising the coastline. We are frequently surrounded by spinner dolphins riding our bow or just playing around our boat.” I continue to tell her that the dolphins are protected so we are not allowed to jump in the water when we see the dolphins, but if we are already in the water and the dolphins choose to swim with the humans than very nice bonus indeed… but the whole two months I have worked here it hasn’t happened… it happens, but it is not a common occurrence.  And with that said I suggest that she summon the dolphins telepathically when she is on her way to the harbor and create the experience she desires.

 I book Annette and looked forward to seeing her upon her return to hear of her experience.

Monday around noon they drift in and I ask, “How was the trip?”

The first guest off the boat says, “We swam with the dolphins!”

Wow! I could not wait to speak to Annette!

Annette makes her way off the raft and I exclaim, “You powerful woman you! You summoned the dolphins to come swim with the humans!”  We hug and she shares how amazing it was. We exchange info… gotta love facebook… we are going to be forever friends. Before we say our goodbyes she asks if there was any way I would be able to take tomorrow off…she lucked out with the rental car… she had reserved an economy car for $30 a day, they were out of the economy cars and the only car they had was this brand new white Camero that she is looking forward to driving somewhere to check out more of the island…  I sadly decline, because I have to be responsible with a job now. We hug goodbye and she sets off to get a hamburger before she rides the bus back to where she is staying.

Two hours later, work was incredibly slow so I decided to check out and head home. I’m standing in line for the bus and I hear a familiar sweet hello… It’s Annette; she just finished her hamburger and was heading back to the Hostel where she is staying. We agree to check out each other’s place and have her meet the fam.

I get home and sense my son’s need to speak with me about his day so I shortened the visit with Annette. After briefly meeting my son she gave me the most beautiful message… words that I needed to hear. Obviously she is a sensitive and in touch with her gift. What a blessing to run into her. Annette and I head over to her hostel… Hostels are great ways to travel, it’s homey and cheap. The rooms have bunk beds and basically you rent a bunk and there is a communal kitchen and living room… We take pictures with the beautiful white Camero and say our goodbyes.

I get home and hear my son’s upset about what that other son of mine’s opinion is about me, him, us, etc. I share with Dallen what that amazing new friend of mine shared with me. Hearing her message helped him as much as it had helped me.

Shortly thereafter, our buddy Jeff shows up to say hi and was thinking of hitching back home to Hana. I tell him about my new friend Annette and her new Camero wanting to drive somewhere. The boys got excited and after walking down to the Hostel to holler up to Annette suggesting the idea, she loved the idea of hanging with my boys while I was at work.

In the morning instead of taking the road to Hana, they decided to take the Camera up to the crater and long board down, … I loved it; my new friend from Germany was taking my boys on a fieldtrip and sharing a beautiful ride with them. Boys love nice cars, and that Camera was a pretty one.   

Well, needless to say, my boy went into a sped tuck going 20 miles per hour to take a hair pin… He survived, has received a lot of attention…and… it makes for a GREAT story.

I loved hearing the boys tell the story of their day with my new friend and her cute Germany accent… evidently, Annette dropped the camera and did not catch filming Dallen biting it. It is funny hearing them explain how she freaked out like all of us women tend to do upon seeing an accident about to happen.

Before flying out of Maui to head back to Germany, Annette stopped by to say one last goodbye. Before leaving she gave me once again a very powerful message that Dallen and I both needed to hear. It was spooky crazy how familiar I felt with someone I just met who has come from so far away. It was sad to see her go, and alarmingly so every time I think of her. Who knows what our connection is, in the whole picture of all knowing? Whatever it is, it had a strong pull.

Every day in Maui is an amazing one. I love all the people I meet. Whether they are visiting or residents to stay, everyone here in Maui takes such great care of me and my family.  Every day is magical having the universe, source, spirit, God, etc.  sending messengers at such divine moments.

I love my job

I love my job. It’s in the best location. It has the best atmosphere; people vacationing in total bliss away from it all, so happy to be in Maui.

I remember working weddings; the atmosphere was such a celebration of love… I had got that job the summer of 2005, you know, the first time I kicked Steve out. I didn’t have to go looking far for a job, my dear friend Cindy Caldwell, a wedding planner offered me a job upon hearing about my personal status.

At the time, I thought, “How ironic, working weddings, while my own marriage is dissolving.” But, I have always been one to roll with the current of life and this wave took me to a gorgeous sanctuary, Elegant Gardens. Working 40 weddings in one summer, obviously I was not meant to dissolve my own marriage just yet… for you see… by November 2005, I was back together with Steve living in Texas reuniting with our first born son we lost to adoption.

Currently, I have called it absolute quits and have dissolved the marriage for good… After 23 years I finally had enough. I sold my 67 Mustang and moved to Maui… Once again, I didn’t have to go looking far for a job… Dallen, Elden and I were walking back from Elden’s job interview checking out the harbor before we bus it back home, when we hear this, “Hey, do you want to go play with the dolphins?”

I holler back, “Oh indeed we do, but we just moved here and we are looking for jobs, we have it on the bucket list for one of the first things we do.”

“Well hey, I’m looking for a Sunday and Monday girl.”

Which again brings me to… “I love my job”.

Let me just brief you on today. Well, let me first also mention… some of you may not know, my daddy Randy just passed away, he died two weeks after I moved. My first day of work was the day of his funeral; I had yet to shed a tear… until… today… AT WORK… haha.

I had been wondering why I haven’t had any emotion about him dying. I have been carrying on as if some stranger died. I had already grieved my daddy Randy dying in 2009 when he accidentally overdosed on his prescribed cocktail and they were able to revive him… Ya, I found out weeks later… when first hearing the message, I didn’t hear the “they were able to revive him” part because upon hearing my sister say, “Did you know that Randy died?” I had fallen to my knees, wailing like a Poly, shaking and screaming uncontrollably. After a good ten minutes of that plus my sister screaming through the phone, “No Keri, he’s alive he’s alive” I was so shook up, I couldn’t stop the shaking but was just as pissed that not one single person informed any of his children, ME BEING THE ELDEST!!! I told my sister “I have got to go, I’m calling that wife of his while I am still vibrating with shock before TOO much vile sets in!!!”

Of course, I get the answering machine and I am thrilled to leave a raging message… no interruptions while I state my upset and remind them I am his !@#$@# daughter !@# !@#$$!... Keeping my calm so they can hear my every word with the least amount of swear words for such a situation, especially when you remember I warned his wife about medicating him with pills instead of HIS medicine, marijuana. You can’t overdose on Marijuana. Pills shut down your pineal gland and numb you.

So, you see, I just chalked my lack of emotions to... I must have already released and processed him dying… Out of sight, out of mind (being a mother of loss in a closed adoption, I am a pro at this one)… I am away from all the family planning, which is a very good thing; I was a big enough bitch on my own facebook page. But folks, that is exactly as bad as I got; I carried on happy and joyful, enjoying every day to the fullest with no tears as if my daddy is free. .. After my few days of 20 minute facebook upset time, I grounded out the upset, and have carried out my days in the best of spirits.

People are hearing of my loss slowly and, for example… Heather, (the girl in the office on my right) who is very gifted… can even read minds… comes up and says, “Oh my gosh, you are handling this so well, I am so sorry, my condolences, I had no idea; you have carried yourself so beautifully.”

I explain, “I have already processed his death the first time it almost happened, you just can’t recreate that, genuinely”…

My job requires that I sit in my “office” (an open booth as you would see at a fair or rodeo) Not only is it located right where the tourist buses unload and has become a common event for the Asians to take pictures with me… (I love pictures and they must sense our likeness, not only do I jump in to “take a pic of the two of you” my booth is right where they first enter the harbor and so many take their first pictures right at my office… Dallen was teasing saying, “watch you will go visit Korea one day and find your picture in their books and on their walls.” … And in the laughter, I added what a beautiful sweet 20ish Korea girl yelled to me as she was walking away from interacting with me, “Your heart rocks!”)… I have the best office location, slip# 8.

The number 8 has been a magical number for me since we got here. First, I buy a car that came with license plates MMT 188. We named her Magical Moments, Magi for short. My first day on the job was the day of my daddy Randy’s funeral 8-8-2012, in slip #8.

Today, I was excited to work towards some rent money, Sunday being the biggest day for booking.

I enjoy my day interacting with the people; I am meeting more and more locals. First person to pay me a visit this morning was Tim. Tim is an author who substitute teaches while he writes. Tim had approached me yesterday, putting on an act of a successful author/lawyer/actor asking about private booking on our sailboat “The Island Star”… which was a total blessing in disguise; I hadn’t been trained yet on all the details of private parties. But come to find out he was using it as an excuse to invite me to Mr. Long’s Funeral Party.

Mr. Long is a celebrity like fellow that owns restaurants on the island and this Tim fellow had asked me to attend this celebration with him. When I declined and said, “I don’t go anywhere without my boys”.

He said, “Well, bring them along”. Still politely declining, he then says, “Owen Wilson most likely will be there.” Well, that didn’t change my mind and when I never showed up for the party, he showed up this morning, asking what happened, informing me that I missed out on a great time…“Owen didn’t show up but Fleetwood Mac gave everyone a show on the drums”.

Wow, I cannot wait to be an established local; I have already barely missed that Owen Wilson twice now.

As I continue my morning greeting everyone that walks by, this older gentleman is hailing a tripod and another stand thing. I have seen a man on the pier with his easel painting and asked, “Are you that guy that I have seen painting?”

He doesn’t hesitate to stop and have a lovely conversation with me. “No, this is a tripod. I photograph and film the local Monk Seals… Here, let me give you one of my DVD’s”. Dr. Martin took the time to stand and chit chat educating me about these seals that are residents here in the harbor. He continues to tell me about some amazing interaction he has had with these animals. He explains the seals, knowing them personally and sharing how they recognize and know him, showing off for the camera when they see him. What a lovely man.

Well, I had a lot of interaction with customers and I am always entertained so well watching all the different boats pull in… my kind of reality show… Lindsey the girl in the office on my left, hops out of her office and says, “I eat so well working here. I am going to go get some fresh sushi” Everyday, there is fresh fish filleting galore going on around 2:00.

I get near the end of my day and I start thinking, “I have enjoyed my day thoroughly, I love singing out, ‘Aloha’ greeting everyone. But that is not going to pay the bills.” I start questioning... I need to work on maybe getting a part time job until Whale Season... I work commission and I don’t get credit if the people I greet take my card after the spill and call back to book. I only get credit if booked at the desk. I hadn’t booked anything today. Right when I started pondering about money. A gentleman approaches my office; his father died a year ago and his father’s wishes was for his family to all go to Maui and spread his ashes in the ocean in Lahaina, his father had owned a restaurant on Front Street.

I give my condolences and offer, “My father just died as well. His funeral was just a few days ago.” He then shares how hard it has been and I explain how I think I am still in shock because I haven’t really teared up yet.

He sympathizes, sharing “It can take a while for it to set in, it’s been a year and I still have a hard time accepting it.”

While booking him a private raft for his family he asks my name for his records and says, “My sister is named Keri” and he proceeds to spell my name correct.

I celebrate and say, “I was watching to see how you spelled it, and yes that is exactly how I spell my name too.”

I then share, “I didn’t know they could do this, but they had arranged for a Harley Davidson Hearst with bikers escorting my father to his final burial spot.” With that said, it was like a button was pushed. The tears started welling up and catch me by surprise. I laugh, apologizing saying, “I am so sorry, I don’t know where that came from, so sorry, I guess I had some feelings stuffed in there after all.”

Douglas, loving my shared emotion beamed and says so tenderly, “Obviously, ones that needed to be expressed.”

We both laugh softly together, connecting on a level of sincere condolences for one another and I thank him for providing the safe soft energy to welcome the flow.

I was able to book something before the day was over and with it being a private party; it was a great booking for me that will help with the bills.

I couldn’t help but to connect the subtle but very obvious connection that my daddy Randy had to have orchestrated. I have questioned in my mind, “Do you think he even bothers coming and hanging out with me?” I tell everyone to come haunt me if you die before me. I don’t think I can count this as a haunting but I cannot deny my father’s presence on some level… especially because then on the way home telling Dallen, Dallen sees a rock on the road wall that had RANDY carved in it. I continue to tell Dallen I know grandpa Randy sent that gentlemen to me to trigger some tears that he most likely has been waiting for me to acknowledge from the other side AND gifted me a great booking for my commission.

After talking to Dallen and acknowledging all the eights in the space, I pulled out my Doreen Virtue Angel Numbers 101 book.

First, I look up my new house number… 209… “You’ve been praying about your Divine life purpose, and the answer is: “Walk confidently in faith, in the direction of your intuition and spiritual passions. Trust that you are fully supported upon this path”. WOW

Then I look up my car license plate number… 188… “Well done! All of your meditating and visualizing have opened the floodgates to increased financial flow”. DOUBLE WOW

I looked up 8 in the number book… “The number eight signifies abundance and prosperity. The endless loops in this number signify an infinite flow of money, time, ideas, or whatever else you require (especially for your life purpose).” Do I even have to say it, WOW WOW WOW.

Being on a roll, reading the universe, I proceed to look up cats… Three outdoor stray cats came with the house. I have never been much of a cat person, I LOVE dogs. But as the Lee, the landlord had said, “Those cats earn their keep, you have no rats.”

I get my Animal Speaks book by Ted Andrews. Cats… Mystery, Magic and Independence…

Well, it doesn’t get better than that! Especially, when you realize what we named our car, Magical Moments.

The Day of My Father's Death

I am so very grateful that I am home in Hawaii. This island has received me well.

Yesterday, our new good friend Jeff was in town. He had a doctor’s apt at 5:00pm so he showed up around 10:00am to see what we were doing this weekend.

I tell him, “I was in the mood to go hiking in our backyard.”… Iao Valley.

Right at that moment, Jeff’s doctor’s apt calls and asks if he could come right now to get it over with and out of the way… Perfect! We can go hiking and play all day like a local!   

By noon, we are hiking up the needle. A great tourist spot… but… Jeff knows of a “shortcut”… which I have learned in my Daddy Randy’s language, means a groovy right on way to check something out. (And yes, Jeff does always say shortcut in the same meaning as my daddy)… We get to the tourist top of the trail and see a sign posted that says, “Do not go this way, stay on the paved trail” … you know one of those signs that my children have always thought were posted to notify them where the real way to go lies… Well, this was the shortcut Jeff spoke of… I loved the rebellious local act, that I now am, in front of gasping tourists.

We hike up on a well traveled path into the real hiking that I have been brought up with living in Utah.

The whole way, after we crossed over onto the local side of the hike, the boys and I kept commenting how much it feels like we are hiking at the cabin with Grandpa Randy because Jeff is so much like him and we are hiking the type of terrain he would take us on.

After the hike to the top of Iao Valley, we head to the beach near our house, taking the “shortcuts” so I don’t travel the tourist routes. This Jeff character is better than my smart phone navigator feature.

We get home and my daughter calls me and says, “Mom, Toni (my sister, who she lives with) is crying really bad, I don’t know what is wrong, something happened…”

While on the phone with her, Elden (my nephew who lives with me) comes in the room and informs us, my father, “Grandpa Randy died”…

Wow, okay, we were expecting this, but wow, it really happened. I love how we had felt like we were hiking with Randy at the cabin that day and it just so happened he died up at the cabin that day.

I seriously was shocked of my lack of feelings… But you figure, my father had already over dosed in 2009 and the paramedics were able to revive him. Now, when I had first heard of this… weeks after the fact… my brother in law had ran into my father at the plumbing house and he had told my brother in law, “hey, did you know I died a few weeks ago?” and then proceeded to tell Russ the story of his survival. Well, when my sister had called me up she started and said, “Did you know that Randy died? And…” …well… I screamed hysterically and it took her a few minutes to be able to calm me down via phone to inform me that the paramedics rescued him but that wife of his didn’t bother to let us know, which is a whole other drama filled story, some other time…but is what I am trying to say… I seriously processed my father dying that day in 2009. I had sobbed uncontrollably and called his home, leaving a message on their home answering machine of my obvious upset of finding out two weeks after the fact that my father overdosed and no one bother informing his two daughters!

Well folks, one can’t recreate something as genuine of reacting to hearing that your parent has died… When it is a false alarm and then they really do pass, if you are like me, I had made sure I had apologized and tried to make things right. Even if he did not receive me, I have a clear conscience how I left it.

Interestingly enough, being the picture freak that I am, I did not bring one single photo with me… I brought everything on my little passport computer thing and laptop… My two copies of my whole life… but not one single photo, on paper, in the physical realm, did I bring… The only photograph that made it to Hawaii, was Grandpa Randy’s graduation picture that Dallen grabbed at the last minute.

For you see, Dallen is looking more and more like his grandfather every day... Dallen’s beliefs and truths are developing more and more like his grandfather’s every day… well the daddy Randy’s beliefs and truths that I remember them to be… After my father quit smoking weed, he found a woman that wanted to get married in the temple for all time and eternity, so…he had to take seven prescribed pills to replace what Marijuana was able to do for him…  I feel prescription pills and the religion ruined him. I felt a relief when I heard my father had died… He is free.



LET US START WITH LEE

Everyone… Aloha!


I have not had the time to call any of you, I am so sorry. All my dear friends and loved ones, I would love to, I really would, but I just haven’t the time… but, there really is no time after all anyways, right... just the moment, the now… And let me tell you all, this moment gets better and better as we go!!!

Let me tell you about this journey of mine so far… After almost missing our plane, leaving Las Vegas… you know, I won the jackpot and was chosen at security to get my phone sampled… then on the way, you know me… I have to take pictures and we got to the gate just as they had already closed the plane up.

“Are you the Stone party of four?!” CODE RED CODE RED... bells, whistles… they stop the plane from any further departure action and the four of us make our way on the plane with our guitars and my purple hair.

Immediately after takeoff, the passenger on my left gets up and doesn’t come back... Wow, how nice is that!!! … I wonder… is he ill??? does he have a toddler in a seat on another row??? … Oh wells, beings that I had prayed to remember to walk around and keep my leg circulation good, (I just have recently regained feeling in my shins after flying three years ago to Oahu), I just took it as an answer to my prayers. Then as Dallen and I were all comfortably sprawled out sleeping, right before landing in Oahu, I wake up to this guy staring down at me. I open my eyes looking up at him and say all sleepily, “There you are. Where have you been?”

I readjust getting over in my assigned seat and he informs me he is a pilot… After flying I guess it is part of rotation to go under and they have beds for them to sleep… good to know.

We arrive in Oahu and wait three hours at the airport. There wasn’t much to check out at gate 50 in Oahu. We were waiting around to board the plane, getting bored of waiting to board the plane, and … good thing we were traveling with Chance, who was sick of waiting to leave gate 50 (that they are boarding from every hour or so)… because all four of us are ADHD and do not pay attention to overhead yapping… Chance just sensed it’s time to get, so let’s get, or else we would have missed this plane as well. We were the tail end of loaders on the plane once again.

We fly our little flight, land safely, then onto getting our eight gianormous suitcases. We haul our two carts across the road to catch a taxi. After three van tryouts to see how big this Stone party of four needed, we left the airport in a nice deluxe shuttle all to ourselves… only twenty bucks to my house from the airport! … (Well, that was the end of my cheaper than expectation moments.)

I use my smart phone to direct the shuttle guy to our new home. Thank God Kirah had taught me how to use this navigation feature, it is my Maui Bible. We unload out of the shuttle and admire our beautiful home that the landlord has lit up like a Christmas tree with all the windows open, (shutters that swing out all old fashioned style.) We think for a moment that we have the wrong place, it looks so occupied, music is playing… I go to the front door and am greeted by the warmest welcoming voice, my landlord, Lee.

Lee, what a character, that guy… he is the sweetest thing… a little strange, but you all know how well I adore strange. After showing us the house, he shows us the shower that is near the back and says, “This is the best room in the house.” … (and he wasn’t kidding, all three boys have had something to say after experiencing it.)

We all chuckle and get ready to go to the store because our blessed Lee can’t believe how this freshly divorced mother with these three boys is flying by the seat of her pants, winging it, willing to just camp out on the beach until she figured it out and figured she would just walk to the store… Lee offered us a ride to go get groceries. We get back and this wonderful character that I wish I had pictures of just comes on in like part of the family, gets a bottle of wine out of the fridge that he had there; asks Elden to open the bottle for him, (Lee got to witness how pure this kid is, Elden had to ask directions how); Lee pours himself a glass; sits at the tea party table in the kitchen; watching us put away our groceries. He turns on the kitchen radio and lamp; sitting sipping his wine; enjoying our presence of putting away groceries. We didn’t mind his peaceful sitting and sipping, and didn’t even notice him slip out the back. Strange, but whatever, we love the place and are happy to be here. We go to bed exhausted.

The next morning I am chatting on the phone with my mother, telling her how sweet this dear character Lee is. The boys chime in saying how amazing he is and then we start saying how I bet so many people judge him and fear him… (Mind you, the guy lives next door in the basement. He rents out this house and the house next door that he lives in. From the moment we arrive and took possession of the house, Lee has welcomed us so well to his home… for the next few days while we were first here, he has enjoyed that shower, remember his favorite room in the house… asking every time; He would come out every so often to rotate the sprinkler on the lawn in his underwear; he grows his hair out long on the sides so he can do the over comb in a forward action; he is very similar to a Gene Wilder character with the similar curly curly hair)… We are all going on how amazing this sweet man is.

My mother, who “knows” I am going to be meeting tall dark and handsome is all wondering, “this could be the one”… so we start explaining how he looks to my mother, with me saying, “He has a Bozo the clown like quality”.

Dallen says “No, he is like the Yang of Beetlejuice, you know, Beetlejuice being the dark bad, the Yin of it and Lee is like the good and the light of it but he looks like a nice Beetlejuice”.

After I get off the phone with my mother, we notice that lovely man Lee, on the porch under the windows hearing everything we said… Good thing we loved the guy!!!

But I put on that good ole oblivious act that I do so well, and sing out oh so sweetly, “Lee, there you are! What are you doing today? You been to church? Whatcha doing?” and I join him for a morning chit chat.

Come to find out, this dear sweet man is sweeter than we even knew. He is only living next door in the basement apt., where he grew up with his grandmother, when he comes to Maui. He has a job in Oahu and he is taking care of his mother who is 94… He grew up with his grandmother… there is a story there, some other time, but this man has never married, he didn’t want to become a pig farmer so he called off the marriage and never had children. I don’t know if he has any siblings, I am guessing not. But this Lee needs a family and we are so grateful to find family fresh off the boat.

So many more stories about this wonderful man, we can’t wait to see again, who I plan on taking pictures with.

Sunday night, I hear a car alarm going off so I went out to see and it was Lee leaving for the airport, “Lee, where are you going?”

“Time to go back, I left some things on the porch, if you don’t want or need them just throw them out if you could.”… That gracious good man, had left a bag of odds and ends that we were truly needing, AND he had in the bag a can of Dallen’s favorite flavor of Arizona Tea that he must have noticed Dallen drinking earlier.

“Oh Lee, you are the sweetest thing. I can’t believe you were going to just sneak off without saying goodbye.”

He chuckles at this, not wanting to be a bother, but loving the adoration.

I call the boys to come say goodbye and we all hug him goodbye.

I am so excited to be here. Maui has received us well. I am transfixed by the serendipities falling into place bringing the perfect people in my space like clockwork.

First thing Monday morning, two days after my arrival, I walk to open me a checking account at the same bank as Lee. I get chatting with the lovely bank lady, who loved chatting with me as well… she tells me, “You have such an Aloha spirit! You are special.” I thank her humbly and ask her name… “Virginia” she says… Folks, some of you may not know about my deceased grandmother, Virginia, who adopted my father. My sister was named after her, Toni Virginia. I have been told by multiple sources that my grandmother Virginia is thick in the space while Dallen and I are going through this transition… WOW… right?

Anyways, we realize, we need a car. We walk to a car lot and meet Sal who escorted me around allll dayyyy long helping me get insurance so I can take the car off the lot. During our day together, I hear his story. Wow, does he have a story to tell, and he plans on telling it. I share with him that I have written a book. I tell him how I did it, I tell him my journey of writing the book and that then led to his desire to have a copy… You never know what will come out of that… Come to find out… his wife works at Family Services here in Maui and I had just applied for a job there for a position to help single pregnant mothers KEEP their children.

And that leads me to Jeff & Darrin… which I must inform many of you that are not Stone family members… Steve, my past husband of 23 years has a brother, named Jeff. … Steve, Jeff & Darrin, their childhood friend that they had pretty much been raised with as a brother, were living on their own when I met Steve.

Well, I was sitting outside of Welfare Services to see what I qualify to receive… I barely pull out my book and this character my age with a Mohawk, (Jeff) says, “You have the most beautiful green eyes with that purple hair”… We get chatting and come to find out, he lives in some upcountry farm like an hour away and he hitchhikes to this Welfare center that is seriously in walking distance, like seriously around the corner from my house, which did I mention… I drove there!!! (It’s not as bad as it sounds, I went there on the way back from getting my car and the boys actually walked home.)

As we chitchat, I find out that his mother had died when he was 2. His grandparents adopted him, but his two brothers were left to fend for themselves at the ages of 9 & 10; their dad had abandoned them on the northeast side of Maui leaving them to raise themselves on the land. When Jeff was 7 his grandparents who adopted him died and then shortly thereafter he joined his brothers raising himself on the land… Darrin, which is spelled the same way, was a friend of the boys and brought them home to his house starting their brotherly bond. … Did I mention Jeff & Darrin were my two eye witnesses for my wedding with Steve???

Anyway, to make a very long story short… I tend to collect children, no matter their age and he tends to collect mothers. After he realized everyone adores me (not just him) and I adore everyone (not just him) and we are going to be great friends. We had an amazing day with him being our personal tour guide around the island. The boys had a great time; it seriously was like hanging out with their grandpa Randy, my father. So many more stories about Jeff & Darrin, those farmers that live in a wood building with 9 sides, all open… farming, surfing and playing guitar ALL day, every day…

I must say though, my favorite part about our driving around the island, jumping in fresh pools here and body surfing there, was meeting Shannon… the 56 year old surfer chic!!! Loved it, this beautiful woman, who is a grandmother to I don’t know how many surfer babies, has got around without a car for many years. We happened across her not once but twice while she was hitching for doctors appointments… I can’t even say hitchhiking, she was gracefully sitting on a cobblestone wall and Jeff pulled over and said “Hey Shannon where you going”… Shannon is Jeff’s neighbor who has been on the island since 1973 when she was 17… “A good age to come to the island and learn this way of life”… she informs Dallen when she hears he is 15… This bitchin grandma reminded me how bitchin I used to be… I used to say bitchin all the time, just like she was… she reminded me of that bitchin Cali surfer chic I myself once was. Quite a day, quite a week, quite an adventure all ready!!! 
                                 
 
Coming here has been a total blessing. It has been scary to let everything I know go and trust in God…


The eve before we flew out of Vegas I had returned a text from my first born son (who I had placed in adoption out of total ignorance which I have grown very wise on the subject because of)… “I know I’m a wreck and make things hard… Again, I’m sorry I have stepped back and distanced myself again. You know how it is… I either suffocate you, or am out of the picture… I look forward to life being simpler… I’m sure with this next move of mine I will find it, and be content with all my relations because I have totally stepped out of the box and am now living in the moment where there are no expectations just enjoying the now and happy to be here. I am excited to let my strong motherly nurturing instinctive behavior be let loose on Hawaii to mother all God’s children young and old… I have always been told who I can nurture, mother and love, starting at 16 and when I married Steve, the restriction was still there, understandably so, but like I said, I can nurture and love 100% every person who comes into my space, not having to hold back when I want to extend… being free to not have to care, be, do, what anyone else thinks or wants.”… Let go and Let God… and folks, he has not failed me.

Love to all of you guys. I wanted you all to get the details of what’s up. I look forward to hearing from every one of you. Make sure you all let me know when you are in my neck of the woods.

Lots of Love, Keri

"23"

Well folks, we have arrived!!! Dallen and I said goodbye to the house, Kirah, the dog and Steve on Friday the 13th… July 13, 2012 My daughter Kirah was not interested leaving all of her friends in Utah to go start a new life in Hawaii with Dallen and me. She arranged to move in with my sister Toni… Makes sense, we are always swapping children, helping one another raise these children of ours. My nephews, Chance & Elden, had been living with me for a while and had no intentions (so they thought) to join us on our journey… they loved the sounds of it… they kept saying …“if only this” or “if only that“… BUT the night before we were to roll out of here they both pretty much said they couldn’t see themselves NOT going. So at the last minute, literally, they were packing for Hawaii. I sold my 67 Mustang and got the money to start over. Steve always hated this Mustang of mine. He was always a Camero Chevy guy. Steve thought it was such a money pit but once we spent the whopping $35,000 and restored it from the ground up, this beauty (Betty) of mine purred and was pretty low maintenance. I drove her as my everyday car. Over the years Steve has tried to get me to sell Betty, she was my only asset I had brought into this marriage and I was not going to give her up. I would always say, “I won’t sell that car until I need to provide a roof over my head”.

Well, that time had come… My dear husband of 23 years whom I married on July 23rd, two years after we had lost our first born son to adoption that was born on December 23rd, and he then blessed me with an opportunity to practice what I preach, “Love One Another ‘Adopt’ the Mother”, (he had a midlife crises and brought in my space, a little girl, born on January 23rd.) Steve could not numb his pain good enough to ignore the loss, shame and guilt of losing not only our son to adoption, but another son 6 months later, he just couldn’t get off of that record player and I finally was able to walk away with no bitterness towards him… Wow… Do you see all the 23’s in this story? Not to mention that Betty’s odometer stopped working on 23000 miles… Interesting… what does 23 mean??? … Well, according to Doreen Virtue, whom I love and admire… 23… means… “You are working closely with one or more ascended masters such as Jesus, Moses, the saints, or the goddesses. This is a message from your ascended master guides, who can see that the answer to your prayers is within reach. They encourage you to stay positive to ensure that you attract the best possible outcome… “ Well, I must say… Yep… that about sums it up in a nutshell, right? lol. I most definitely have finally reached that best possible outcome that I obviously attracted by staying positive!!! HELL YA, PRAISE THE LORD, JESUS, MOSES, THE SAINTS AND THE GODDESSES!!!

ASTROLOGY!!!

I've done it! I have dived in to ASTROLOGY! And do you know what my favorite part about it is? It doesn't give a rats ass who you were born to, or who the heck is your heritage anyways! LOL

Don't get me wrong, I am so grateful for the half of my heritage I have and know. But I think I am finally done giving a rats ass who is not choosing to be a part of my heritage through loss of adoption! If I never meet or know my paternal grandmother or my paternal cousins, uncles or aunts... I can rest assured that I have researched pretty much every aspect of decoding this thing called my life and how everything works from an energetical, spiritual, physical, emotional, scientifical, historical... you name it... side of it.

I can honestly say: I know myself well enough from knowing half of my family, history and all; knowing how everything is energy and how we hold energy in our DNA that passes down our dysfunctional energy magically through the air until that energy of dysfunction is healed and not spinning any longer;

knowing how the emotional upsets manifest physically and healing emotional upset is how we live to obtain perfect health;

knowing how history repeats itself, even if you were not raised anywhere near your family, you are total clones of two... a combination of two people who are your parents, whether you have been adopted or not;

knowing how babies are born with 100% usage of their brain, all knowing straight from heaven... trapped in this little helpless body that has to trust in their mother to provide them with the best outcome for their mission in this life that they themselves have created to live to gain more hands on wisdom or shall I say, in these last of days especially, to bring awareness and healing... and depending on what they are exposed to is how they are going to take all the information from the 23 chromosomes from each parent and truly take 5 years to create/program what this vessel of a human body will utilize and develop strongly before the thickening of the veil as the shutting down of parts of this human brain happens as it occurs surely and slowly unless stimulated and is constantly judging creating aspects and perspectives... to go on in this vessel of a body, "a spiritual being having a human experience", continuing blindly equipped with the energy we were born with, genetically, as well as universally;

knowing how important DNA is to our soul group, to live and learn and conquer to full awareness and knowing that LOVE is the most powerful energy and is highly magical... this knowing obtained from living through the history clear from Adam and Eve all as a whole, learning as a whole, all one, learning certain themes as a soul group, living the down of it to KNOW the up of it, learning from the ancestors before us...

I have totally figured ME out and I am pretty damn amazing and as for anyone that doesn't think so, I really don't give a rats ass... It is very freeing to love and understand yourself to such a high level that I can seriously imagine and have figured out how my other half of my family is and how much they all look just like me and act just like me.

But back to astrology... I LOVE ASTROLOGY... It doesn't give a rats ass who you were born to, or who the heck is your heritage anyways! After decoding my husband, my children and me, it was so exciting to see how equipped and prepared we are, down to the time of our delivery to survive, live, learn and heal ourselves, our families and others by the experiences we have experienced. Because after all, we all are just "spiritual beings having a human experience", a human experience that has got itself in a world of ego and apathy, a world that needs masters to bring awareness and healing for humans on this beautiful Mother Earth.

And I can honestly say I have mastered some stuff!!!

My Beloved Son

My son Dallen and I have been going to an amazing healer. No pretending with her... she reads energy and your mind. She is absolutely amazing. My son and I have been having a hard time with the reality of adoption and reunion. He lost a brother just as I lost a son. I never realized that relinquishing my first born son to adoption would also hugely affect my 2nd born, first raised, son... Dallen has suffered a phobia of being kidnapped his whole life and he still suffers often not feeling safe even currently at the age of 15.

Kai, (my first born) Dallen's brother, entered Dallen's life when he was 9 and Kai was 19. It was hard in the beginning for Dallen just as much as it was difficult for me. Dallen, being the "oldest" in our raised family unit was demoted to middle child. Instead of his dad asking him to go places, this new older brother was being asked and he felt like his spot was taken as oldest son. Dallen also had insecurities that my love wasn't huge enough to share with this new older brother and he had fear that he would receive less love from me with this new older brother moving on the turf. To top it off, Kirah, his little sister who has always treated Dallen poorly because of her bossy ways, was kissing this new older brother's ass even when this new older brother was treating his younger sister more poorly than he ever had. Not to mention, the grandmother's and grandfather's that went gaga goo goo over this new older brother moving on the scene getting all this attention when here he has been right under their noses this whole time. But ... it was all worth it... he now had his older brother in his life.

Conflicting as it has been, wanting Kai 100% in our space/not wanting Kai in our space at all; we had to seek out profession help. We had to allow ourselves to grieve the loss of Kai in our family and accept it for what it is because we cannot change the past. We need to clear the energy, so we can have a healthy relationship in the future since our relationship has been traumatized by adoption... my choice as a 16 year old mother, I know... I will live with that choice for the rest of my life.

It has been a huge blessing to have my son Dallen on this journey of healing with me. He teaches me as much as I teach him. It's crazy, he will process an emotion, have an upset, react, scream and rage... and then, shortly thereafter, I am processing that same emotion and upset he just processed. It was so great to have Dallen to look to and find comfort and laugh saying, "I pulled a Dallen, Dallen knows what I mean." Well, this last process, I went first... not on purpose, it just happened that way. It was good to be able to help Dallen with this process, by helping him through it, I was able to further heal and strengthen my emotional charge on the upset and then in return I was able to further heal and strengthen Dallen on his emotional charge on the upset.

I feel Dallen and I have been able to shift having acceptance that it is what it is. Kai is who he is, and we are who we are. And with that, Dallen said chuckling, "because after all mom, Kai did not ask for this and ultimately he is just making the best of it the only way he knows how... because mom, if it were me that had to be raised without you in Wyoming, I'D BE PISSED."

After these wise words from my beloved son who I refer to as my dessert, (my reward for my obedience to sacrifice a son to the world in the name of adoption so I could help others heal... my reward from above to help me heal first and foremost so I could help others heal... my reward from above to support me and help me heal others... my cherry on top)... I could not help but to feel his words penetrate my soul... "Kai did not ask for this and ultimately he is just making the best of it the only way he knows how... because mom, if it were me that had to be raised without you in Wyoming, I'D BE PISSED."

I have finally been able to accept 100% it is what it is, and I think I can accept I didn't fight hard enough for my motherhood in 1986. I can honestly say, I have fought hard to prove my love to try to earn my motherhood when in all reality, it is what it is and I am who I am... and honestly, nothing can take my motherhood away because it just IS. With that reality, I can let go of all the energy of grieving and trying to earn the place of mother, because whether Kai wants to accept it or not is up to him... and in all reality why should he when I haven't been the one to be there. Like Dallen said "... I'D BE PISSED." So in all reality, I owe my first born an apology... An apology that he has never asked for. An apology that I have just realized the need of, thanks to my beloved son, Dallen.

Madonna Is The MAN

Madonna never ceases to amaze me! I have always admired her bravery to be true to herself and be who she is, no matter what anyone thinks.

The other day, Friday the 13th, my dear friend Tracey Albert called me and asked if I could be her designated driver, she has to get a crown at the dentist...

"Of course!" ... I was delighted to take a day off from my life and serve a dear friend! ... I drop her off, came home to wait for the call to pick her up... The call comes in and I jet to go pick her up, entering the dentist waiting room right at the exact moment ABC 4 NEWS is advertising the 20/20 interview with Madonna... (Folks, I honestly don't make much time to watch TV... so for me to just happen to catch this 15 minutes of TV time at this moment was soo divine!)...

I was excited to be updated on Madonna! What is that girl up to?

To my amazement, she is working on a movie, "WE", which she co wrote and produced to be out February 3rd... It's a great story about Edward VIII leaving his throne of Britain to be with the woman he feel in love with, an American divorcee Wallace Simpson.

The thing that amazed me most, in this part of the interview??? Cynthia McFadden challenged Madonna's position on her belief of the position Edward VIII being a Hitler supporter and other rumors about the couple. I loved Madonna's confidence with her truth and findings from her research about the couple and challenged Cynthia right back, stating that Cynthia would not be able to find anything that supports otherwise... WOW!!! ...

Madonna, you are one smart lady that I truly admire! I always heard that knowledge was powerful... but boy do I love watching Madonna living this concept and being a great example to me... Especially because ... just like Madonna said to Cynthia in this interview, in regards to her love for Wallace Simpson, she has the "ability to survive against all odds... deeply misunderstood by people." ...

Madonna being a true survivor as well that is notoriously deeply misunderstood with judgment her whole life, I'm sure, as not being too intelligent because of her unconventional choices, when in all reality she most likely is one of the most brilliant people amongst us.

The second thing that amazed me was... yes, the part about Lady Gaga. WOW!!! Madonna's vocabulary has always impressed me, but I must say, today was a day to remember! Not only did she think of the best word to describe how she feels about Lady Gaga's song, "Born This Way" being a copy of her "Express Yourself", she stumped Cynthia McFadden on the definition of the word... REDUCTIVE

"Is that good or bad?" Cynthia asks

Classic Madonna... full of grace along with her beauty, reaches for her coffee mug for a sip, and says with such eloquence, "look it up"... !!! I LOVE IT!!!

REDUCTIVE - simplified or crude... I even found a science definition - lower level entity

By the end of the segment I had an over pouring love for Madonna with her comment when questioned by Cynthia McFadden, "Do you feel more authentic when you are without makeup?"...

Madonna replies, "As long as I'm doing what I want to do, whether I am done up in makeup or not it doesn't matter, that is when I am feeling most authentic."...

CHEERS TO MADONNA!!! Exactly!!! "AS LONG AS I AM DOING WHAT I WANT TO DO"... a woman we can all admire and learn to live in our truth to be who we are!!!

It is no wonder Madonna Louise Cicone was named after her mother Madonna Louise, after all, the biblical definition of Madonna is ... a medieval Italian term for a noble or otherwise important woman, and has long been used commonly in reference to images of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. Madonna also translates as "My Lady" also represented as the Queen of Heaven, often enthroned... (wikipedia)

Madonna, a woman who has truly lived up to her name and will definitely go down in history like the amazing ones before her, such as; Virgin Mother Mary, Mary Magdalen, Jesus, John Lennon, Bob Marley and Martin Luther King just to name a few!