I finally did get to take Jane out to dinner, where we talked about the Bruins and the weather. While we were waiting for dessert to be delivered, I asked her to marry me, and captured her so off-guard, she said yes. Jane had never been west of New York, so a move to Maui would be an anomaly, not to mention her mother and sisters were lining up to shoot me.

So off we flew to the Valley Island, where upon landing at Kahului Airport Jane took a look around, and told me she wanted to go home. I asked her to give Maui a few days, and took her to the well named Aloha Restaurant for dinner…

As good fortune would have it, Rick & Sol Hoopii were sitting a few tables over, and they came over to meet Jane…

“Macky Boy, dees your Bride?”

“Yes, Rick, Sol, please meet Jane Layne, formerly of Cape Cod.”

“May we sing The Hawaiian Wedding Song to Miss Jane?”

“Please…”

Well, I don’t know if you’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing the Hoopii Brothers sing together, but their acapella harmony surpasses anything that has ever fallen upon mine ear, and I couldn’t help but notice a tear or two welling up in Jane’s beautiful brown eyes…

That evening we went body surfing at midnight under a full moon, and a couple porpoises joined us as playmates and instructors. It was supernatural, enchanting, and Jane did not mention Cape Cod that night…

The next thing I knew, she had joined a polo team and was playing hockey while horseback. She asked me to join her book club, which I did, but when she asked me to join her hiking club and join them on a hike from the summit of Haleakala, sixteen miles down Kaupo Gap on sliding sands, I “drawed out” as they say in Nevada…

While I was doing my level best to keep up with her, she opened a dress shop and had me selling mumus on my days off from the radio station, while she surfed and hunted Ahi with a Hawaiian sling so we could enjoy a sumptuous Maui dinner when I got off work…

In Jane’s second month on Maui she bought a Jeep and joined an “Off Road Jeep Club,” that I would meet with a cooler of Primo and a platter of Manini at the end of the day. Then she took to coaching Youth Soccer, and I became assistant coach of the Wailuku Swarm. We barnstormed other Islands with those talented Maui kids, and won most of our matches.

But when she started training for the Iron Man in Kona, I wore myself out driving the sag-wagon while she swam, biked and ran all over creation. It was while driving that sag-wagon that I realized Jane had come to love Maui as much as I did, maybe more. Unwaveringly, she continues to live her idyllic Maui life as we speak…