Aloha and Welcome to our Hawaii Life
November 2013: " What if we sold everything we owned and paid off all our debts...which would allow us to create some amazing new adventures for our family? " Where could we go? Where would we want to live?
December-April 2014: We begin selling everything we didn't "need". From luc's motorcycle and all his racing gear to my beautiful sweet coco (the airstream we had JUST purchased last summer to renovate.) It all had to go if we were going to make this work. Many tears were shed and we both had aches from letting go of the material things we had collected for so many years.
In December, we tell our families we've decided to leave our lives in colorado behind...taking their only grandchild/niece with us to go on the biggest adventure of our lives. We've decided to move to Hawaii though we aren't certain which island yet. After filling out several job applications on Oahu and researching opportunities on Maui and Kauai...I get a lead, through Instagram, from a friend who has family on the Big Island. We've never been to the Big Island. Luc is offered a job and is asked to be on island as soon as possible. Our house goes on the market and we become more serious about selling our possessions and researching places to live.
May 2014: Luc leaves for his job on the Big Island of Hawaii. We know we will be apart for 4 weeks before Channing and I join him there. We sell our home and almost every single item within it...with the exception of irreplaceable and meaningful items. Two weeks before Luc leaves, we ship his Jeep and what items we have packed into a partially filled container. I say goodbye to friends and family and have a HUGE estate sale. I sign the papers for the sale of the house and get on a plane with Channing the next day...Luc has been acclimating to the island life for one month.
June 2014: We begin learning how to adjust to such a different way of life. We're living in a small furnished condo with a pretty view but really uncomfortable furniture. It is absolutely beautiful here, with so many new adventures and opportunities...but it is still a HUGE change from everything we are used to. Some days are really great and filled with happiness...some days are downright awful and filled with tears. We miss our home back in colorado. I miss my kitchen and our new deck that Luc built right before we sold the house and the outdoor space for Channing to play in. I miss the familiar daily/weekly routine I've had for years now; the restaurants, the shops, the favorite spots we love. But, each day brings more comfort and I focus as hard as I can on releasing the past and being in the now. Luc is adjusting to going from owning his own company for the past 18 years to working for someone else. And adjusting to a completely different approach to working in construction from what we are used to in colorado. But there's beauty to having a steady paycheck and only working 40 hours a week versus many many more when we were back home.
This is just the beginning of so many new things to come.
Summer 2016: I can't tell you how happy I am that you are here, reading along as I journal our way through this adventure we've created. We're now into our 2nd year here on the island and it feels like we just got here last week while also feeling like we've already been here for a lifetime. Thank you for sharing in our journey. Welcome to our Hawaii Life.