I've always appreciated the wonderful medical advice that Linda from Kansas who worked as a hospice nurse often gives me in her comments. I have a very dear and special cousin who is now about to enter Hospice Care and it breaks my heart.
I emailed Linda about my cousin and she wrote back a beautiful letter. She also emailed the following about what she would want done if she caught COVID-19:
"I just want to see my Hawaii ocean painting, and listen to my old-time tunes and Hawaiian music. I even thought of the moderately morbid idea of: "just fill a nurse glove with sand, and if the staff can't attend to me, to let me hold that sandy hand instead of my son's." Thinking of someone in spirit, even when not physically present, can ease everyone's pain. Hope I don't have to test out my idea, but I'm seeing lots of variations of this within the hospice literature these days."
So then.... I had this fun idea.
How about I fill a glove with Hawaiian sand and send it to her? I went to the post office but they didn't have a small flat rate box to enclose a sandy glove. That's OK. My friend, Diane happened to have one that she was happy to share with me.
Art and I haven't left our town in months. But we thought it would be a fun excursion to drive out to Nanakuli to get a small bag of sand. The beach was actually deserted so I happily got the cleanest looking sand and brought it home. I cleaned it with fresh water and set it out to dry.
And then it occurred to me. Was it against the law to get sand from the beach? While my sand was drying, I looked online and found this on New York Post.
"It is illegal to take sand from Hawaii beaches, state Department of Land and Natural Resources spokeswoman Deborah Ward said. The law contains a limited number of exceptions that do not include personal or commercial sales. Fines for illegally collecting Hawaii sand can reach upward of $100,000.Nov 6, 2017"
Oh dang it!
It's supposed to be OK if it's just sand that clings to your bathing suit or beach bag, but not more than that.
Oh dang it!
I am a stickler for following the law.... but would it really hurt to just send a teeny bit? I wouldn't be selling it or anything... And it's just a little bit... sort of.
But then I read about Pele's Curse. She is the goddess of fire and volcanoes and creator of the Hawaiian Islands. The curse is that if you take lava rock away from the islands, you would get hit with mega bad luck. But I thought the curse was only for lava rock, not sand.
Oh dang it!
Apparently Pele doesn't want sand taken from the islands either. And I'm thinking if Linda by small chance gets infected by COVID, do I want to give her more bad luck? OK, yes, it might be a myth... but...
Sigh... I think I'll make her a Hawaiian mask instead. And oh... looks like this will mean another trip to the beach where I can return the now very clean sand. 🙄
I loved the photo of you collecting sand at that beach and the sweet, heartfelt story behind it. But I wouldn't play with any Hawaiian curses either, let alone the law, darn it! Kay I’m sorry for chuckling here but the idea of you returning that cleaned sand.... you are pretty wonderful!
ReplyDeleteWell, this post jogged a memory. At one time, I showed a video about the Hawaiian volcanoes to my physical geography class. Pele was mentioned.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a sweet story. I suppose there are many reasons why the ecology of a place should be left free of human interference, but it must be especially important to a volcanic island chain. And I love that you are law abiding. Too many seem to think rules and laws only apply to someone else.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a sweet picture of you collecting the sand. And I too would not mess with Pele and the possibility of a curse! The whole story is a wonderful one of caring about others and not wanting to break any laws or put yourself in harm's way. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy dear Kay, what amazing follow-through on the sandy hand idea. I'm really chuckling this morning, thinking of all of your efforts, and thank you. (I would've never thought to wash and clean the sand.) And your attempted adventure got you out of the house a bit!
ReplyDeleteYes, I'd heard about not removing any rocks or sand from Hawaii, mostly because it perturbs Pele and bad luck occurs to the Mainlander or traveler until the rock/sand is returned. Your Hawaii post offices have received many boxes of returned geological stuff because of the bad luck. I didn't realize the monetary fine existed! Ouch! And packages that aren't light-weight are pretty expensive to mail. We do have bags of play sand in Kansas, tube sand for the winters to haul in cars for traction, and a couple of tiny lakes.
Think I'll wait til closer to the time I may need it to put sandy hand together. You could just use your special washed sand around Mom's orchids, maybe? I think Pele doesn't mind it moving around, just not taken from the Islands.
Besides, I'd rather get the vaccine, get rid of this covid stuff, and come visit the sand in person! Until then, Linda in Kansas with little lake sands.
I knew about the lava rocks. I think everybody born in Hawaii KNOWS not to tamper with Pele's lava rocks, but I thought she didn't care about the sand.
DeleteI had a friend who visited the islands send me back some rocks from Diamond Head. She was getting married and didn't want any curse to follow her. I'm pretty far from Diamond Head so had to give it to somebody to return.
And I don't care if it's just a myth. I'm not taking any chances.
DeleteA teacher friend's daughter was getting married on the beach and included a bit of sand in the invites. There was a bit of an uproar from the Post Office since the white particles that leaked out of the envelopes were feared to be anthrax. No not a good idea to send sand through the mail, curse or no curse.
ReplyDeleteLovely words from Linda on how to die with dignity and caring.
It is amazing that you even thought to research this. Sorry your plans didn't work out.
ReplyDeleteI would have never thought it was illegal to take sand from a beach in Hawaii. I'm all for following the letter of the law so I think I would have worn a pair of cargo shorts with six pockets and done a lot of rolling around in the sand before getting back in the car.
ReplyDeleteOur last trip to your state, I bet there was enough sand on the floor of our rental car to fill up a half dozen gloves.
Or wear a swimming suit and get wet enough to have sand stick to it :-)
DeleteA beautiful idea and I loved the view of the beach and blue sky. A year ago I'd just spent 5 days in Maui. My younger daughter loved the lava rocks and wanted to bring some home, but my late husband(who lived in Hawaii for 2 years in the military) told her about Pele's curse. The rocks stayed there.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet, funny story and surely Pele would see your were true of heart but probably best not to tempt that theory. You might be the most law abiding person I know. Proud of you.
ReplyDeleteFunny! Maybe drop off the sand at Sans Souci (aka Kaimana Beach) on a Thursday morning. You might see me and my centurian friend there!
ReplyDeleteThat's sort of far for us to go though. Darn! I'm glad you're helping your friend get some exercise.
DeleteI believe in the curse of Pele. I did not even take something home, I just stood on some lava on the big island and when I heard it crack under my foot I looked down and saw a piece I could pick up - when I turned it over I saw a glittery interior like rainbows.
ReplyDeleteI looked at it and debated my options it was so beautiful. But we have a life rule - take only photographs leave only footprints - so we took a lot of photos and put the rock back where I found it.
On the way home I had a DVT on the plane which turned into a pulmonary embolism. Yes Pele, message received, content noted. :)
DVT is scary. I do have a cousin who died at 45 from it while returning from Vegas.
DeleteYes, let the curse lie. And yes too, that's a charming picture of you gathering the sand. :)
ReplyDeleteYou think too much! Send the sand. It's for a very good cause.
ReplyDeleteI am chuckling. I think I agree with Red, "You think too much!"
ReplyDeleteBut I would give anything right now to be on that beach!
That Pele story is a myth started by the volcano rangers cuz visitors were taking the rocks home. So of course it's psychology that life happens and now they have rocks to blame. They get rocks mailed back all the time now. As for sand, my ex-F-I-L would get it for his coops. Sand and lava rocks, other than black sand is just sand. BUT the power of suggestion, and someone going into Hospice has a weakened immune system so the chances of getting ill is higher. So for your peace of mind don't send it. You could pick up some shells and worn glass from the beach instead and put them in a bottle. -BB
ReplyDeleteKinda hard to find shells on the beach these days. I do have one from years and years ago though. Well, it's raining hard today so will find another day to return Pele's very clean sand to her.
DeleteGlad you left the sand!
ReplyDeleteIt's the thought that counts...
ReplyDeleteDunno why you would ever think of being
ReplyDeletecursed by Pele who was THE greatest soccer
player of all time.
I'm afraid you have the wrong Pele. This Pele is the goddess of fire and volcanoes in Hawaii.
DeleteOh Kay, how sweet of you to be soooooo considerate of our island ecology :)
ReplyDeleteFor residents of the state, you are allowed to remove 1 gallon of sand per person per day, as long as it is for noncommercial uses. I had to look it up once for a project :)
love,
cousin walt
Hi Walt! I'm so happy to hear from you. If you'd ever like mom to make nishime for you let me know.
DeleteI know about that 1 gallon of sand per person, per day. I'm afraid they changed the rules again. I thought a little bit wouldn't hurt. But no... I guess not.