Beginning Our New Life In Maui

May wife, Danielle, loves the ocean. Like, seriously, if the ocean magically manifested into some tall handsome dude she'd probably leave me.

Her love for warm sun and sandy beaches is why in the winter of 2014 she asked me for a trip to Hawaii for Christmas. She claims she was "only joking," but after she mentioned this two other times I began to wonder just how jokey she was actually being.

I also started to get curious. How much would a vacation to Hawaii really cost? What sorts of things could you do there? How much will the airline industry rip us off for two tickets to Maui? (Because, really, what do the airlines ever do except charge ridiculous amounts of money for what is, essentially, a miserable travel experience coupled with molestations from the TSA?)

"Is this is a joke?" she asked when I gave her the tickets on Christmas Eve.

"If this is a joke it's one of the cruelest Christmas presents ever," I said.

It wasn't a joke. We were going to Maui.

I can always tell how excited she is about something by how quickly the news hits Facebook. In this case, I think she set a new record.

Why Hawaii?

The West Maui Mountains right behind
our apartment building in Kahului.

We visited Hawaii in January of 2015. The moment we stepped off the plane there was this feeling of being home—the island time, the Aloha spirit, the mountains, the water, the palm trees. We belonged there.
After ten days of luaus, snorkeling, whale watching, volcano hiking, surfing, drinking, eating, and swimming our time in paradise came to an end.

Or so we thought.

For months afterward all we could talk about was how much we enjoyed Maui. Eventually we realized that other than our families there was really nothing tying us to our New England roots. We hated the winters. We were tired of the remoteness of everything, the small town life, and the summer allergies. As we considered what kind of a life we wanted to live and where we wanted to raise our kids everything about Maui just seemed to fit with the vision we were developing for our lives.

So finally said: "Let's just move there!"

Holy Crap–We Just Moved To Maui

In the summer of 2015 we closed on the sale of our house. We sold a lot of our possessions and put others in storage. We sold our cars, bought some plane tickets, packed four suitcases, and by January we were back in Maui—exactly a year after we visited.

Honestly, Hawaii was never on my radar of places to go. I've never been drawn to the tropics, but Hawaii is more beautiful and comfortable than I could have imagined. My allergies don't bother me, the heat isn't unbearable, and everyone here lives life slowly. In our culture of busyness and immediacy and deadlines, island life is—as our surf instructor would say—totally chill, bro. It's rare to find that quality of life in a community. I think if one can appreciate it, live it, and give it back to those around them, then it's a life worth living.

So I am now a resident of Maui, HI. We've been here four days. It's kind of surreal. I can't believe I left my whole life behind and came here. It was terrifying, and I'm still not one hundred percent certain that I didn't make a terrible mistake, but time will tell.

The Meaning of All This

I've talked a lot about fear on this blog—fear associated with writing—but I've learned that as I begin to conquer fear in other life situations, fear begins to play a less prominent role in all other areas of my life. Yes, it was terrifying to leave everything I've ever known and move 4,900 miles away, but I knew that if I chose to let fear control this decision I'd spend the rest of my life regretting the choice I didn't make. Personally, I'd rather get to the end of my life and say, "I gave it my best shot," instead of, "I wish I took the chance."