Carpe Diem, Our First Two Weeks in Kona

Kayaking in Kona

I almost feel like I should start this post week 2....for we have come full circle.  Although we are still in Hawaii, life in Kona might as well be on another planet.  I'm not sure if it's the sun, or the ocean out my window or just the simplicity of life back on grid but it kinda feels like our off grid life, was merely a dream.  It's like I have just woke up from the deepest,  most mind altering dream ever experienced.  The kind you wake from and can't distinguish... how that wasn't real?  But it was real, yet I'm on this high, this buzz.  It's familiar, deja vu, like, the buzz I used to feel years ago when we would come to Kona for a couple weeks at a time.  Yeah I've been witness to this, I've been here before.  So I guess you could say I'm somewhere in between dreams and I suppose that's not a terrible place to be. 

There's apart of me that feels like I've been waiting for this move for 5 years.  It's truly surreal.  When Dave and I would visit Hawaii we would always stay in Kona. When I would leave the island and mourn Hawaii, it was Kona that was always on my mind.  Yet somehow this esoteric off grid life seemed like it was the only way to make Hawaii work.  The only way we thought we could ever own something here.  I would never say that Hilo was settling, it was just a different life, a different beautiful life, but ultimately just not truly suited for us.  Yet I honestly believe living that life, experiencing that "dream" for the last year better prepared us for Hawaii.  It made us more grateful than ever, if just even for a hot bath.  I admire the people that make it work off gird, more than I could ever explain, but maybe you just can't really teach an old dog new tricks.  I may not be a country girl, but I am an island girl, and I feel like Cinderella... finally slipping my foot into exactly the right fit.  I feel like kicking my heels every time I wake up!  This is my life?  No way, when do I have to catch my flight?  Wait I can stay here?  I can live in Hawaii and go kayaking and to the beach and feel the sun and the warmth...and what's that? I can actually make a living too?  I'm happy.  It feels good.

My husband has been quiet these last two weeks.  He's enjoying himself, but hasn't fully allowed himself to let loose.  I had a job lined up when we moved over, but he did not.  I see he's nervous, yet something is different.  He has a twinkle in his eye.  He's been contemplating his life.  I think he's ready to do his own thing, ready to start a business of his own.  And if we are already going rouge...why the hell not?  We made a little money from our land, now is the time right?  Although we make choices everyday that define our path I feel like only once in awhile, do we truly turn ourselves inside out, shake our life up enough, create just the right moment to do special things, things we would have only otherwise chalked up to pipe dreams.   Yeah, this is that time for him.

There's a good piece of advice a friend of mine that lived in Maui for many years gave me, and I've been thinking about it quite a bit.  She said don't forget why you moved to the island.  All of those things you said you would do, lay on the beach all day, snorkel, kayak, jog outdoors, sleep in your bathing suit, eat by the water; don't forget to do those things.  Never let the island lose it's charm, because then your not living in paradise anymore, your just living far away.  Dave and I made a decision the first night we moved our stuff in.  We walked down to the water.  We sat on the lava rock wall, watched the waves crash in, breathed in the salt air, it's time to dream big, it's time live big. Somewhere in between dreams, yeah, that's where we plan to stay :) 

Our Beached Kayak