Bill on a Stick

My brother Bill couldn’t join us on our Hawaiian trip in February to celebrate my sister Connie’s 50^th birthday. While sitting on the beach our first day in Oahu, we pondered ways to include him in our adventures.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

We wrote “Hi Bill” in the sand and photographed it to send him, but our little greeting seemed a tad inadequate. We ordered a few more drinks to encourage creative thinking whilst lounging on the sand and pondered the issue for awhile.

A plan was eventually formed and off we went to the nearest Target and bought a piece of poster board. I had brought everyone gifts of journals and colored pencils, so the latter came in handy for making a drawing of Bill’s head.

Back on the beach, I found a piece of a coconut stem that had fallen. We didn’t have any tape, but Connie had bandaids in her suitcase which we confiscated to attach Bill’s head to the stick.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

And thus was born “Bill on a Stick”—complete with clear hair on the top of his head and two differently colored eyes—we were going for verisimilitude. The lips are a bit off, but our endeavors fairly represent our beloved brother.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

I sent our photos to Snapfish and they created a little pictorial storybook which I’ve mailed to Bill.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

I’ll just share a couple of the pictures. Whatever we did, Bill did, including getting in the hot tub…

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

… making friends with our friendly bartender whilst wearing the Hawaiian outfit Carolyn got for him…

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

…and enjoying the luau.

Aloha, Bill!