I WANT TO KNOW THE MIDDLE

 We have an Ohana on our property. 

In Hawaii, Ohana means family. It also means a space on your property that what people on the mainland might call a "mother-in-law" apartment". Ours is a converted garage, it is a studio apartment. It does not have a full kitchen. The sink for the bathroom is shared in the kitchen. It does have it's own private entrance from the main house and a private parking spot. 

We have rented it out before. Once to a local guy that worked at the harbor. It also has shared laundry space and a shared big fridge that we use for storage. The guy that worked at the harbor was great. He was either working or on a boat. We would get a text every once in a while saying there was fresh tuna in the shared fridge. 

The second renter. He made it about 9 months. Some good times. Some not so good. We finally had to give him notice. 

We took a break from renting it out. We rented it for Ironman and Ohana (family). Other than that. It sat empty. Breathing room. Letting us breathe some life back into our lives.

As the moment those words roll off my tongue, the Dash arrives. The website I was referred, Furnished Finders. We can offer furnished accommodations, people can look for furnished places to stay. Someone inquired about our place to stay for a month. 

This would be great. A great tiptoe back into the short-term rental market on our property. A toe in the water. 

With this website, I guess, it's much like a dating website, only it's about a place to stay, only it's for a place to stay for longer time stays. 

Dash sends her email. We talk. Okay. This sounds good. In fact, this sounds better than good. She's here for a month, She's bringing her bike.

I introduced her to some guys who live on the property of some friends of mine..... 

She's spent all this time with the guys that live on a friend of mine's property. Really, I'm not jealous. REALLY, I'm not. Her bike hasn't been touched in a couple of weeks. She pops in and out. She's coming back in June to housesit for a month. :-) 

I know how this ends. I was young once. I came to Hawaii on a whim.

Dasha. I just want you to fill in the Dash.... :-)

A new life

 The loss of one's old life is a condition for finding a new one.

This happens so many times in life. You must let go of your old ideas, friends, things, places, thoughts, habits in order to gain new. 

Many people are not brave enough to let go of the old. They stay in the same routine. Live in the same place. Do the same things, with the same people. In fact many people do this. In some ways, I am very envious.

There are a couple of places on the island that Hawaiian people have never left. They still farm and hunt and live on their piece of the world. There is something so peaceful in thinking about that. That is their life. I know several people on the island whom have never left. In some ways, I am envious. Of course, we all know people who have never left their little part of the world.

Truth be told, I stay in my little neighborhood. I did the same thing in Denver. Even today, I was invited to go to lunch. When they mentioned the place. My very first thought was "that's far". It was 4 miles from where we were standing.  

My youngest son recently returned from Europe to Denver. He did like it there. 

For me, I always envisioned Hawaii as IT. This was the place. I didn't NEED or WANT anything else in my life. THIS was the END GAME. LAST BIG GOAL. 

For the last TWELVE YEARS, in the back of my mind was - get to Hawaii.

AND - I did it.

Several nervous breakdowns, tragedies and some incredible wonderful memories getting me here. I AM HERE. 

BUT WAIT.  My sons are only in their twenties. I didn't find Hawaii until my 40's. What if they both run off and fall in love with Australia or Africa or some remote little island in the Caribbean (hopefully, it will be near each other).  And then I follow their dreams 

This was and is MY dream. One of my dreams anyway. I've had many. I lived in Colorado for over 30 years. Who is to say there aren't more dreams, books, chapters and lives left to live in mine. 

Colorado will always be the place I "grew up". Hawaii too. But there are many chapters in this book called life.