May 2025
by DJ Buchanan
We left in a hurry leaving Vegas – we were in such a hurry we left the chair charger when getting into the uber. So, it made a very stressful first 24 hours until we could meet up with the ALS foundation of Oahu to get a temporary replacement.
Mac out in Oahu was absolutely incredible and accommodating to make this trip happen. He got us the Charger Monday morning for my travel chair – shout out to the jazzy carbon, that thing is amazing.
My favorite part of the trip was the look on Rachel’s face when I asked her to be my wife.
On the second day, the ALS foundation hooked us up with a power chair to explore local shops and restaurants.
On the third day, I tried to get into the ocean on a beach chair designed to be pushed by someone through the sand.
My wife is 28 weeks pregnant and I’m around 200 LBS so you can see where this would be a difficult task for her.
We were determined so Rachel took me to the lagoon to swim with the fish.
On day four we got married on Magic Island with Diamondhead in the background along with the Hilton where we stayed.
My favorite part of the adventure for me was our wedding day. It was an experience I will never forget.
The fact that we will be able to tell our children we got married on the beach in Hawaii is a beautiful thing.
The next day we traveled out to the Buddhist Temple called the Byodo-In Temple.
Next, we went to sunbathe since we couldn’t get in the ocean two days prior. But, good people are everywhere, and two guys offered to carry me into the ocean to swim.
They saw us struggling to get into the ocean two days prior and they weren’t going to let me miss another opportunity. What an amazing family all the way around that helped.
Actually, getting to swim in the ocean in Hawaii was a dream come true.
Then we finished the day with a cocktail/Dinner cruise with the most incredible sunset all the way around us.
We ended up having the entire 1st floor of the cocktail cruise, just us two with our own private deck. PRICELESS. This day was a close 2nd favorite.
Regardless of what we were faced with, we kept our smiles on and got everything checked off our list! Amazing all the way around!!!
Day six was our time to leave but we didn’t want to go yet so we went and took in as much sun as we could before we left.
We will try our best to make it back here once Theo joins this world.
This adventure to me was a reminder of how much life I have left to live for.
I got to marry my amazing wife in one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
We both always wanted to go to Hawaii but never actually put it all together.
