Quick stop to Samoa and back...

Aerial pic of Upolu Samoa

It was so neat to take a short visit to Samoa for a few days to visit family and to check on things and then returned back early this week for my last week of work. 

It's definitely something that my family wants to do more of to keep in close connection with our family in Samoa and especially our parents in their retirement years.

I also really appreciate the airfares being more affordable than a couple of decades ago when it was well over $1K for a return ticket and that's a big thanks to Virgin Samoa airlines that really started a price war that has kept prices at bay for families although often Air NZ is the preferred carrier for many travellers to Samoa.

This trip I didn't get to visit Savaii again but it was really neat in becoming more familiar with the roads and where family members live and in not having to wait for another few years before the pilgrimage back to the motherland.

It also gave me time to write and reflect on some poetry that I'd been meaning to write for the next prose and poetry collection next year. It definitely is a privilege to be able to travel to Samoa and consider the differences that the motherland and culture has to diasporic Samoans living faaSamoa values away from the motherland.

So as the three week holiday season begins for my family, I'm so grateful for the many opportunities that have been brought about to share stories, learn from and consider about the different principles and values that I learned from the faaSamoa to pass on to future generations...