AA178 SFO/JFK/Heathrow/Hamburg

Aloha and halfway to the Big Apple. Once I land I have 55 minutes to wend my way through JFK airport to find my flight to London. I have no checked baggage so anticipate no issues on that end. Not bad for three week trip to Germany and Istanbul really, only a small backpack and a wheeled carry on. I will see my dearest friends in Germany that I knew in graduate school in Hawai'i. They live in Bremen, just outside of Hamburg. I land there about 1800 June 25, 2010, pick up a rental car and spend a week with them. I am very excited, great people and they have two incredible,beautiful children.

It will be interesting to see Germany again after so many years - forty to be exact. I left in 1968 and have only been back albeit briefly. It was only 20 years after the Second World War that I was there and the new enemy then were the Russians. We always seem to manufacture a new enemy to fit the times.

I am exhausted and my mind continuously goes to my mother. Dying of cancer, but not actively or else I would not be making this trip, I admire her so much and she is so brave. It is a choice and she is a great example for me and others. I established three numbers for her and others to call, a San Francisco Skype number, a European mobile number and my regular mobile number. I wrestled with this decision more than many tough calls I have had to make. Initially I was not going to go but my mom even asked me to please go after knowing that I will return instantly if she or my brother and his wife need me. The Doctors encouraged me, my workmates encourage me to so . . . so here I sit at 36,000 feet in total comfort. Only 1.5 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours so soon I will be passing out.

I look forward to what is to come on this trip but still, I miss my mother and I continue to hold her close.

Thanks for reading. Malama pono, a hui hou.

David, signing off from somewhere over America en route to Germany.