“Maybe it's about stringing together all the little things, like wearing these pants or getting to a new level of Dragon's Lair...”

It’s almost been one month since I’ve arrived in Hana. One month of 25 hour work weeks. One month of becoming a beach bum and browning my pale skin. One month of fresh coconuts, papaya and mangos. But like any place, this slice of heaven has its down falls. Coming here, there were obvious parts of my life I knew I’d leave behind in New York, driving my beloved Rav4, watching Syracuse Basketball or any T.V. for that matter, walking my four pawed best bud, smoochin’ my fella, and shoveling snow (ok, that one’s not too bad…). Other parts too insignificant to think of before arriving, only hit me recently when I realized I hadn’t done them in awhile, including sitting on a couch and drinking a glass of milk. As strange as that may sound, when you do get little bits of your normal life back, it’s like a million Christmases wrapped in one. This has happened recently to us, in our simple lives of rice and beans, sleeping in the Diggs with our cockroaches (Brad and Angelina,) and me scratching away at my over 60 (yes I counted) bug bits and scrapes on my legs alone…. And it all happened thanks to three things, Costco’s, the Kia’s and Lynn & Gerry. Don’t worry I’ll explain…

We’ll begin with Costco’s. If you know Chelsea, you know that she’s obsessed with cheesecake.  I mean this girl get’s it at any restaurant she can, and hasn’t shut up about it ever since we got here. Ian travels down the sickening road to the “Otherside” once a week, and along with him he’ll take our list of grocery needs. Knowing he’d be stopping at Costco’s (it’s like BJ’s or Sam’s Club, I hadn’t heard of it before coming here…) Chelsea, Amy and I made an impulsive decision to call him on his cell after he left, urgently informing him he needed to add cheesecake to that list. He comes back late on those days to the otherside, but it didn’t matter. We politely told Krista to send Ian down to the Diggs as soon as he returned (time was no question,) to deliver us our cheesecake. We each wolfed down two slices when it arrived. It wasn’t the best tasting cheesecake by any means, but defiantly the most satisfying. Chelsea and Amy have been eating it for breakfast….

The Kia’s, ooooh the Kia’s. Here at Hana Tropicals, a lovely little Bamboo Cottage sits on the property, which travelers staying in Hana rent out, usually for no more than two or three nights. Since we don’t like calling them “The Guests,” we’ve begun to call them whatever rented car they’re driving, the Wranglers, the Dodgers….you get the picture. Yesterday, the ever so generous Kia’s left the Bamboo Cottage. The Kia’s consisted of a lovely couple in their late 50’s with one of their mothers, a friendly lady who introduced herself very effectively, “I’m from Arizona and I’m a rodeo photographer!!!” Anyways, they left LOTS of food. Two boxes filled with goodies, including an uncut pineapple, milk, apples, cheese, honey, two bottles of wine, chips (so naturally we made guacamole) and yes, even flavored spam (this is Hawaii after all). This may not seem like anything special; but to us, it was heavenly. When we open our fridge, smiles cross our faces.

Lastly, Lynn and Gerry. Lynn and Gerry, two friends of Ian and Krista’s, invited us to dinner at their house last night. Excited to go out, we cleaned up, actually wore make up (well two out of the four of us…) and Chelsea even wore a dress (believe me that means a lot). I’ve been to their adorable little two story bungalow house once, and Gerry (a horticulturalist always sharp with a joke, “You can bring a horse to water, but you can’t bring a whore to culture…”) showed us around his extremely impressive grounds, which includes almost every type of tropical fruit tree imaginable. After a delicious dinner of pasta and sauce (with sausage!) and a salad topped with star fruit (I literally dreamed about those star fruits last night,) we went downstairs to watch T.V. and sit on a couch. WHAT a lovely day. :)

Aloha. (and Go SU!)