Hold on to those pop cans...

The other day I was talking to my mom who was sitting on her "Lanai" in Hawaii soaking up that fabulous Hawaiian breeze when she got nervous and said, "Oh, stop, stop, stop." I was a little confused, but she informed me that her Diet Coke can had toppled over and was dangerously close to falling off the deck and tumbling down from the 22nd floor. DEJAVU. I reminded her of another pop can incident that wasn't nearly as innocent.... and proved to be my closest run in with the law!! I think it is time to document that story!


Several years ago (I was in 7th grade to be exact...) my parents took me and my older brother Nate on a vacation to Hawaii. We of course were having a wonderful time, but my parents were ready for a night out on their own, so they left us with pizza and pop in the hotel while they went off to dinner. I must admit that I am not sure that this is something that I would do with my own children at that age... but obviously they felt that we were exceptionally responsible teenagers. (which of course we were.... but teenagers all the same!) Nate was sitting out on the deck (or "lanai") on approx. the 18th floor, finishing up his pop, and looking at the completely empty pool below. I remember him calling me and saying, "Watch this...", he then proceeded to launch his pop can off the deck catapulting it into the pool below. Not to be outdone, I swallowed the last sips of my pop and followed suit. I wasn't nearly as practiced at pop can launching apparently, because mine landed outside of the pool with a hollow thud. We both stood looking over the edge at our cleverness when we saw two men... walkie-talkies in hand looking directly at us - start off into a sprint. Nate dove into the room pulling me after him, we turned off all the lights as if to hide the evidence... but we had already been caught.


Moments later we hear a pounding at the door, "SECURITY OPEN UP!" Me being the brave soul that I am vanished into the bathroom and locked the door. Nate answered... said he was alone... and was promptly escorted down to their "office" for questioning. I remember sitting in that bathroom thinking that I was so glad I hadn't been caught... but then I realized that I was all alone... my parents were gone... I was 12 years old in a hotel room by myself... without a cell phone of course - long before even the "brick cell phones" were out... and I was going to be the one who had to explain to my parents why my brother had been carted off to jail (as far as I knew).

I sat on the bed bawling and pretty much just freaking out while I contemplated all the scenarios. Nate finally came back after what seemed like 10 hours, but it was probably closer to 1 hour. He told me about his ordeal and let me know that technically it was my fault but he had covered for me for which I should be eternally grateful (his theory being that because I was the second one to throw... and I didn't do very well at that anyway...) I accepted responsiblity and assured him I was just glad that he hadn't ratted me out too! Together we decided that this would be our little secret... why tell the parents... security had decided not to take him down to the station, so there would be no record. When my parents finally got back Nate and I went to bed quietly and said nothing of our adventurous night. The next morning the guilt overtook us and we blurted out the whole harrowing experience. Guess what my parents did... they both burst out laughing... HUH! They thought it was quite hilarious, I'm sure mainly because we were so distraught about the whole situation and had decided to come clean. I even got the last laugh... since I "could not be identified by the security personnel" I got to ride the elevator all the way to the lobby with them... Nate on the other hand had to get out on the 2nd floor and walk down so that he wouldn't be "identified with my parents." Of course my parents laughed every time we left the hotel... So mom you hold onto those pop cans - they may look back in the "Hawaiian records" and realize slippery hands run in the family... and what would you do if they didn't let you come back to your favorite place on earth! We love you and hope that you had a fabulous Mother's Day!