Jacob & Amanda, and Laura are all new South Maui Volunteers..all in their 20’s and very good workers. Jacob and Amanda are engaged. They got matching engagement rings on Maui... beautiful rings made from coconut wood and not metallic. Jacob thought he lost his ring in a section of sand where he was working that was about 10x 10 feet square. They had really moved a lot of sand and had also dug out 6 post holes that day. He did not notice the missing ring until he had left the area for the day. He was devastated and Amanda tried to be brave and feign compassion. They all searched for some time sifting through the sand but eventually gave up when they realized the impossibility of the situation. They went out into the ocean and you could see the couple hugging and consoling one another.
Was it a bad sign? Should they really get married? Was there a lesson for them in this? Perhaps it was a mistake to work so hard for this group.
Our own John T. was working in the area and continued to do his job of filling the post holes after the posts were placed. He took off his gloves and used his bare hands to fill in the sand to make sure he felt for the ring. He never really said anything about looking for it, just went about his job, but he kept a lookout. We were all keeping an eye out for the ring, actually. Well, John found it. He caught Laura's attention and she ran up and took the ring then jumped into the ocean to let Jacob and Amanda know. Lot’s of tears and hugs. They finally came out of the ocean and headed for John. It was quite a scene and they were all very demonstrative and emotional. Like John said- “You don’t find it unless you look.” He went on to say to them that “it was just not fair that you put in all of this volunteer time and then have this happen.”
John is our hero for this week.
It was a smaller volunteer group than what we've been seeing lately, for sure, but boy did we get a lot done! In the photo, this last load of pluchea was uprooted near the Kamaole Point seabird nesting site. We also re-strung the rope borders to help people know where they should walk and where not.... it would seem that we are ready to see the first of the feathered flock back in mid to late March!
