Homesick for Hawaii

I knew it would happen. Eventually all this New England newness would wear off and I'd miss Hawaii. Well, I've missed Hawaii in some way since the day I left but lately I've really been missing Hawaii. Maybe its because it is Stick Month: cold but with none of that fun white stuff to play in. Or maybe it is because we've been battling one cold after another, the latest of which has had Kai and I getting pretty intimate with the staff at his pediatric practice. Today I think they thought we were moving in. Four days of high fever is pretty stressful stuff. Thank goodness my little man is asleep tonight with a more normal temperature that was not chemically induced, at last!

Maybe it is because our state of the art heating system powers up with bangs and whistles as hot steam fills the pipes throughout our house. After it wakes us all up and heats us all up, it turns off, proceeds to let the temperatures drop again until its frigid and then the indoor water storm starts up again. My practical-minded husband just shakes his head at me every time I whine that I "just don't understand why we can't have a constant temperature like in the other heated homes I've lived in????"Maybe because they weren't circa 1890! Somebody really mis-led me when they told me our house had new gas heat. I guess they should have explained that a new gas furnace is not equivalent to an entirely new heating system. I guess I'll know better for next time. This re-introduction to complex habitation has made me pine for my simple little cardboard box of a Hawaiian hale where the only real technology was a hot water heater.

My Hawaii driver's license has been a real conversation starter here in NE. I liken it to a baby or a puppy. People get all wistful and either tell you their entire vacation history on each of the Hawaiian islands or they ask you if you are suffering from some sort of mental illness that would cause you to up and leave the USA's own personal paradise. One such lady was much more interested in talking to us about Maui than in checking Greg into hospital when he had pancreatitis. To her credit, she did stop after about 10 minutes and said to Greg "oh, I'm sorry. Here I am talking about Hawaii and you don't feel well." Gee, thanks for noticing.

Like I tell all the wistful New Englanders, yes, I do miss the beaches. Yes, I do miss the sunshine and the warmth. Yes, I do miss the flowers. But you know this week, I really miss the nights. I miss the way you could walk outside into air that was warm and still and sweet. I miss the song of the gecko, always heard more at night. I miss the flying termites...NOT! just making sure you hadn't fallen asleep while reading my tome. I miss my friends. I miss the evenings when Greg and I would be doing dishes in our kitchen in front of the window that faced jungle/forest/brush. Then we'd hear it....pssst, hey...what are you guys doing? And there would be Kelley and Ryan. Maybe they'd be on mountain bikes, maybe they'd have Tyla, their boxer, with them, maybe it was just one of them....that Ryan was probably out surfing past sunset again and Kelley was worried. I miss that. I miss living in our close knit townhouse community. We were all nosy nellies but we all meant well. Even Greg could be caught observing the goings on at Lakeview. He won't admit it though ;-).

Hawaii wasn't the perfect place for me. There were lots of things that drove me crazy but there were lots of things I loved. And this week I'm focusing on those.