How could you possibly leave this?
Why would you leave a place that made you feel young and kept you healthy and fit and always on the go to new adventures?
A few things....a falling housing market does not help. We have had our condo on the market for a year. We thought we would sell our condo and get a single family house here in Kona. Living small in a beautiful resort has been its own kind of adventure, but with growing kids, we were ready to move onward and upward here on the island. The universe has other plans.
We arrived in the summer of 2010 for what would be a six year discovery of ourselves and our surroundings. The kids grew up slowly and we became happily involved in the school community and the overall Kona community, as well. I traveled off the island a few times a year until 2014...and then it got harder when the airfare went up. But I dug in and just did more within the islands instead of going to the mainland for conferences and events.
Then there was the pull of my career and I missed traveling in the fast lane.
And I missed my friends who would go to wineries with me in the Santa Cruz Mountains for my birthday. And have impromptu dance parties in their back yards.
Then after my mom died in 2014 and we had our last family reunion in the summer of 2015 to bury her, I realized I was missing my cousins and watching their kids grow up. By living on the island I was not allowing my kids to get to know these budding personalities. My aunt moved to Oregon this past fall so she would be near all of of her kids...and she is basically my "hanai" mom after my mom passed..
But most of all...after spending time in the forests of California and Oregon last summer, I felt a pull. I have a yearning to be surrounded by forest energy. I want to mountain bike, hike, ski and teach my kids the mountain sports that Eric and I love. (and get them off their tech toys and out into nature!)
We came home last summer and started toying with the idea of moving to the mountains. But we knew we had built quite a community of friends here in Kona...so we said perhaps we could just get our forest fun within the two weeks we had each summer.
But the pull was strong. And when the condo did not sell, we thought of new plan..a new adventure. So we approached Eric's dad and asked if we could live in his vacation home in South Lake Tahoe..the home we have gone to vacation in since the third week I met Eric. It sits on the last street before the national forest and its only a 1/2 mile walk to the lake. He said yes and gave us a great deal to live there. We thought about getting away from the constant pressure of how expensive it is to live in Hawaii for awhile...and we looked at the high school and middle school for the kids and were impressed with the new facilities and technology labs and classrooms. The adventure started to take shape.
So we asked the kids. Caylin said it was a great idea! Devin said he would miss his friends...but Eric got him pretty excited about learning how to ski, snow board, mountain bike and go with us on hiking adventures.
He remembered the great times we had at the lake as a family and said he would give it a go with us.
Caylin and I said it would be so fun to take ice skating lessons together and to sled and enjoy the mountains and being so close to our family and friends in the Santa Clara County. And I could get involved in the local writer's community and start on a new book..
With that, we made the decision to move to South Lake Tahoe. We fly out on June 30th and after visiting friends and family around California this summer, we settle in around August and begin life in a new town and see where our next adventure takes us. I can't wait to run mountain trails, enjoy the cool air, and start a new 365LakeTahoe.com blog. We invite our friends to come visit and drink a Rum Runner with us on the lake, take a 4WD adventure in Eric's truck and enjoy some wine or a hike with us at sunset in a quiet meadow surrounded by the Sierra. We will miss Hawaii, and especially our friends and the energy of the island. We will be back eventually. And I am taking my mom's table to Lake Tahoe. And moving it back to the island when we return.
Change is certain in life. It's managing it to your advantage that makes it fun.
