Day 262
We were somewhere in the middle of a two-week trip to Maui when it happened. It was Andy's birthday that day, so we made it one of our do-nothing days, opting to check out a nice beach we'd heard about just past Kapalua.
I settled down with a book, our cooler, and towels, so Andy could go swimming first, but just as he was emptying his pockets of his wallet, phone, and whatnot, his brother Chris called from Massachusetts to wish him a happy birthday. They spoke for maybe 10 minutes, I snapped a few photos while they did, and when he got off the phone, I took one last shot of Andy with the gorgeous view behind him (pictured here).
Andy then went in for his swim in the amazing waters off the incredible D.T. Fleming Beach. There were only a few other people on the stretch of beach, maybe 15-20 at most, and only half that number or less in the water, so we mostly had the place to ourselves. About 15 minutes later, as I'm deep into my book and hardly have a care in the world, Andy suddenly comes jogging up from the ocean looking very nervous. He started rustling through our things, asking, "Do you have the car key?" Now I don't think any other combination of six words could have told me so much in such a short sentence. Andy was the driver, not me, and the rental car key would have definitely not been in my pocket. We hadn't seen a magician recently, and as far as I understood, the laws of time and space were still active.
What followed next was a 15-minute-long stress adventure beginning with Andy calling the car rental company to tell them he thought he'd lost the key in the ocean, followed soon afterward by a call to a locksmith, and a long conversation about fees and hassles, the likes of which neither of us wanted on his birthday, nor at anytime while staying on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!
After watching Andy for a few minutes on the phone, I took a long look out at the ocean waters he'd been swimming in. I realized, quite accurately, that he'd been exploring about 50% of the whole length of the available swimming area, and had gone in as far as waist-deep out into the water. Still, there was a bit of hope here anyway. He wasn't exactly swimming in the northern Atlantic off Long Island. This was paradise, and I began to think I might actually find the key out there somewhere.
So I said a prayer to St. Anthony, and went to work. I walked up and down that beach and as far out as I guessed Andy had. At one point 5 minutes into my search, mentioning to a woman I was searching for a car key, she said, "That guy over there just found a key." I rushed to the man right away, only to learn it was a completely different key a completely different vacationer had lost. So I returned to my expedition feeling slightly less hope, but no less determination.
And then it happened: my golden ticket moment! I spotted something glimmering in the sun, something metallic shining beneath the deepest water I'd been through. Could it be? Could this be our missing car key, not yet buried beneath the sand or taken out into even deeper waters? I reached down until my head and neck were in the water a bit, feeling around for the object I'd spotted. I grabbed it at last and pulled it up, and glory be to God, it was our car key!
I was so happy to have found it, and as I walked back toward the beach, I spotted Andy still on the phone guarding our rental car (worried someone would find the key and steal the car--not too rare an occurrence on the islands). He was quite far away from me, but I held the key up in the air with a big smile, pointing at it with my other hand so he'd see I found it. I couldn't help but laugh as Andy came running back toward me, the weight of the world now off his birthday-in-paradise shoulders. Whew!
Not quite a Miracle on the Hudson story, just a great Maui good luck adventure, but it's one I promise you we will never forget!
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