Where America's Day Begins

I grew up on the island of Guam.  Lots of people know that.  Lots of people don't.  We moved there towards the end of elementary school, and I graduated high school from Guam High School (because...what else would it be called?).

I left Guam in August of 2004 to go to college, and the last time I was there was Christmas 2004 of my freshman year.  The following summer, 2005, my parents moved back to their home state of Arizona to be closer to their aging parents. 

And I never went back.

Not for a lack of wanting to, though.  Do you know where Guam is? 

 It's basically out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, almost directly south of Japan and directly north of Australia.  It's a 7 hour flight to Hawaii.  A 4 hour flight to Japan. So it's not close to anything other than islands even smaller than it is (which is only about 30 miles long and 8 miles wide).  It's "remote" to say the least.  As you can imagine, getting there is not only a lengthy process, it's an expensive one.

Another thing many people know, and many people do not, is that I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Our church builds temples around the world with the belief that temples are holy places, where we can feel closer to deity as well as to our ancestors.  Guam has never had a temple close by, but in October 2018 it was announced that one would be built on Guam.  From that moment, I knew I wanted to go and be present when it was finished being built.  Before a temple is opened officially there is a dedication ceremony and that's what I wanted to be present at.  

Cue 2020: we moved to Japan.  Japan is a lot closer to Guam, and the flights are significantly less expensive.  And so.....I booked a flight.....with Indie.  May 18 we embarked on an unnecessarily long trip to Guam, my first time back in 18 years.

We took the shinkansen (bullet train) down to Fukuoka.  We took a flight from Fukuoka to Tokyo.  We waited around for a gazillion hours and finally got our flight from Tokyo to Guam. 

**Because Japan was in May, still relatively "closed" due to COVID, there are not many flights in and out of the country, thus the run around to get to Tokyo.

When the kid headphones are still too big, a rolled up diaper with help

SO CLOSE!

And suddenly, we were there.  Walking through a familiar airport, hugging familiar friends, breathing in familiar 100% humid air, sweating like a fool at 10pm because...100% humidity.  

After jumping through a few hoops, having the best escort (not THAT kind of escort, fools!) ever take us to grab our rental car, figure out how to drive on the right side of the road again, we got to our AirBnB and crashed.

This of course did not stop Indie from waking up at 6am the following morning.  We got ready and off we went!  Poor Indie was really not a fan of me reliving my glory days, driving all over the island.  

After a couple of hours we finally made our way down to my very favorite beach ever, Ratidian Beach, where it just so happens that now one of my favorite and oldest friends (and best escort ever from the previous evening) works at the wild life preserve.  We spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon exploring the jungle, looking for black tip sharks, and swimming in the 85 degree water.

Best tour guide everrrrr also happens to be one of my besties! Thanks Kawika!

Exactly, girl.  Exactly

Over the next several days Indie and I spent our time driving, a lot, to visit and see people and places that filled my soul with something I didn't realize I needed.  As we went, and looked, and talked, and drove, I realized something.  When I left Guam, I left and never went back.  Most of the people from there, I never saw again.  And then I began a new life.  An entirely new life.  And my previous life, and my new life, were never going to merge because there was no physical way to connect them.  

|Andrew, for example, is removed form his hometown.  But we've been there, together.  We've seen his childhood home, even had Thanksgiving dinner there.  We've been to church at the church building he attended as a child.  We drove by the Taco Time he worked at and saw the elementary school he went to.  We had ice cream and his favorite ice cream spot and had dinner at the restaurant his parents only took them to if it was a REALLY special occasion.  

These are the types of things that I've never been able to show Andrew.  He's heard the stories, but that's where it stopped.  And while he didn't get to go with me on this trip,  I felt like just by me being there, in my current life, I have effectively merged two parts of my soul together.  I feel like a whole, complete person, even though I didn't realize that I didn't feel whole until then.  

Oh hey, what used to be Guam High School

High School Drama teacher? HEEYYY

And friends

So many friends..

Really, more like family

And high school friend's kids!

And after days of wandering and eating and driving and listening to Indie complain about all the driving I was subjecting her to, we showed up to the newly finished Yigo, Guam temple on Sunday morning.  We spent the entire day just exisiting there, seeing even more friends, taking pictures, sweating, getting sunburned, and feeling the excitement of people who have waited a long time to finally have a temple on their beautiful island.

Seeing more friends

And these beautiful Nicerio souls that helped watch Indie for me

Auntie Wanda and Uncle Bill, the kindest most generous ever

Indie found a stray cat and was devastated he couldn't come home with us.

Sunday was our last full day, so after we left the temple grounds in the evening, we drove straight to the beach to enjoy one more sunset before heading back home to Japan.

Indie's favorite new friend whom she still talks about non-stop

Monday morning we got up and slowly made our way back to drop of the rental car, and were again blessed by beautiful friends who took us to the airport and waiting around with us until we could give one last wave as we walked through security.  

Then we began the ridiculously long process of getting back home which included a 4 hour flight to Narita, a 3 hour wait in the airport while we went through all of the COVID regulations and testing, a 1 hour train ride into Tokyo, a 4 hour bullet train ride to Hiroshima, a 1 hour local train ride to Iwakuni and a taxi ride home.  We rolled in the front door about 1am, ready to pass. out. 

During the long journey home I got to thinking about what a mess social media can be, but also what a gem it can be.  Because of social media I've been able to stay in a bit of contact with so many people.  I've been able to have a glimpse at their lives over the years, and them at mine.  Because of social media, the reunion with so many was so sweet.  

I've been thinking about this experience, and wanting to write about it since it happened.  Finally, four months later, here we are.  The trip was amazing, and I truly can't wait to take my entire family there soon.