Leif on Kalapana Black Sand Beach, Hawaii - July 1980 - Age 5

What little boy doesn't love to throw stones in the water? Or big boys, for that matter. These photos were taken on our first trip to Hawaii, on our way (a long way with many stops) from Germany to Japan, when we moved there in July 1980.

One of the places we saw on the Big Island of Hawaii was Kalapana Black Sand Beach. Now, it, too, is gone, covered by the lava that destroyed several small towns in 1990. The road we drove on to get there is now far from the sea, as the lava extended the island.

When I look at photos like these of Leif, this age and older, I see now a real vulnerability none of us saw then because he was so big for his age, so strong, and so brave and self-contained.

It was a good trip, a good time, part of that best decade of our lives.