Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Visiting Trevor in Honolulu

This was in the 1980s, when I was living on grants and had a very flexible schedule. I visited twice, a week each time, though in the latter visit I took 2 days away to visit a Portland friend in Maui. I hated Maui. I loved Honolulu.

Trevor was fighting cancer the last trip and would die about a year later, as I recall. He was pissing in a bag and not in great shape.

Trevor had an apt along a canal
The first visit was more energetic, and I fell in love with Honolulu, which was no more expensive than Portland if you avoided the tourist traps everywhere. I loved and envied Trevor's routine, out to breakfast every morning, same booth, same waitress, usually the same order. My kind of routine! Routine in a life is like dramatic structure in a story: it holds the fort down so you can get crazy without paying serious consequences. At any rate, we had a great time, talking literature through the day, sipping and hanging out, and he gave me a grand tour of the island, and also showed me the locations for From Here To Eternity, and it was just an incredible visit, and I knew I could live in Honolulu in a heartbeat.

But I haven't been back since he died, in the late 1980s (I think).

Man, I'm glad I found his photo and put it here. Bob Trevor changed my life. Loved the man.


No comments: