Story of the Week, May 7, 2011, Love in the Lava

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May 7, 2011

Georgia Lea Horvath and her husband, of North Bend, Washington, were grieving the loss of their 26-year-old son, Scott. The three of them had planned to visit the big island of Hawaii in November, but as the departure date approached, neither wanted to go. One day, however, Georgia thought about it again. Maybe the trip would distract them for awhile. They could invite her mother along too. And so they did.

The island was beautiful. One morning Georgia and her husband took a walk along the beach where black lava had hardened into the water. All around the Big Island, people leave names and messages made out of white stones on this lava, so they decided to leave a message for Scott. “Aloha, Scott”(Aloha means “hello, goodbye, and love.”) 1/11/72 – 9/15/98,” it read. The couple took a picture of it and walked on.

“The next day we took my mom for a walk,” says Georgia, “and when we reached that place, she spotted the message right away.” Georgia thought it would have been washed away by the waves because it was right next to the ocean. Everyone was thrilled that the writing was still there.

On that day, the Horvaths had planned to take a twelve-hour drive around the entire island. But the night before, a neighbor had suggested they avoid a certain area. “Don’t bother to turn off at the south end of the island, to see the most southern tip of the United States,” he cautioned them. “It isn’t worth the drive on a dirt road, and nothing is there anyway.” The couple agreed. This man certainly knew more than they did about tourist attractions.

They had completed the first part of their journey, and Georgia was driving when she saw the sign: TURN HERE to see the Southern-most tip. “Remember,” said her husband, “this is where that man said to go back.”

“I remember,” Georgia said, and started to turn. Then, at the last minute, she veered the other way, bouncing down the dirt road. “We’re here,” she said to her surprised husband. “Let’s go as far as we can.”

He shrugged. Up ahead he could see more black lava, just like the kind they had seen yesterday. Just then the path ahead separated, and Georgia had to turn left or right. “My hand seemed to turn towards the left,” she says, “so this is where I went.”

They drove to the edge of the lava, and stopped. The area was completely deserted, just water splashing along the shore and once again, lots of white stone messages all over from people who had visited. “We got out of the car and started to walk,” Georgia says. “Then all three of us stopped. Ahead of us was a message written on a white stone: “Love U 2,” it said. “Scott.”

All three adults started to weep. “It was a message from Scott,” Georgia says. “We know he didn’t actually write it, but the fact that we almost didn’t go to that area, and when we did stop, it was the right place..…well, we were meant to see it.” It made their trip, and aided their mourning. Scott was not gone, they knew now, just enjoying a beautiful piece of heaven.