We're Sure Going to Miss Hawaii

I really wish that I was going to be able to homeschool Tania in Hawaii. It's such a wonderful place to grow up. I've lived here for 26 years, save the three years I attended boarding hell in Florida.

This is a picture of Tania on May Day at her school. It's a really special day in Hawaii. It's not really a holiday about the labor movement here. It's more of a celebration of all that is Hawaii. Typically, a royal Hawaiian court is elected from the sixth grade. There are a king and queen to represent each of the eight Hawaiian islands, and a king and queen that preside over all of the islands. Each island king and queen bring an offering to the chief king and queen. The offerings are things like mango, papaya, and kalo (taro). Each grade, first through fifth, performs a song or hula for the king and queen. At the end, the queen performs a hula for everyone there. May Day is one of those events that made me tear up this year and wish we could stay here.

So why are we leaving, you ask? Because it's retardedly expensive to live here. We can't find a house to rent for under $2,500 a month or a house to buy for under $600,000. And since I am staying at home and Joey is still a student, it's just not working out for us here. But we'll be back! Someday, some way, we'll be back. I think they have the lottery in Oregon. Maybe that will be our long-term financial goal: Winning the lottery.

By the way, imagine an eight-months pregnant woman running around May Day in platform slippers trying to get photos of her daughter and nieces. You see her sort of wobble and then plummet to the ground and land on all fours, her hands on the principal's feet. That was me.