Pioneering Hawaiian Style

Since moving to the ranch here in Hawaii I have a very rough draft understanding of what pioneer women must have felt like.  Moving to a 'strange to them' land, very far away from their friends and family, isolated, and having traveled to their destination by way of a very bumpy road and steep mountains.

It has crossed my mind no less than one hundred times what these women must have been feeling- and at some very deep level I can describe it- I can relate and I completely and totally admire what they did.

It has been a pioneer journey for our family over the last 22 months- The night we landed in Hawaii I had the strangest feeling......an alone feeling I had never experienced- We were 3000 miles away from 'home' with not one contact on the island we moved.  My friend Holly (who lives a couple islands over) was my only 808 contact- We were starting from scratch.

Everything was different- EVERYTHING! Traded subdivision life for ranch life- Traded Power from a power company for a generator and solar- Traded cell phone reception for a sketchy phone line that only works when it has not rained (when it rains hard, the phone wire that runs on top of the ground floats in the rain water and is fuzzy at best)- Traded easy access to friends and family for an over-abundance of time with Eli, Ryan, Matt, and Oklie- Traded air conditioning for balmy humid Hawaiian days w/o any sort of air conditioning-  Traded a packed social life for complete isolation- Traded a paved 2 lane subdivision street with street lights, curb, and gutter for a windy, straight up, straight down, pot hole ridden, over-whelming 5 mile road............traded it all, just for now, in the name of ADVENTURE!!

A deep sense of accomplishment along with a deep sense of longing must have graced the minds of those pioneer women.......accomplishment in the fact that they had made it to their destination and survived- but longing because leaving everything you've ever known- the comforts, smells, sights, feeling of belongings, knowing where you are going is on your mind everyday.

Would I go back and do it all over again- Oh heck yeah......but would I go back and re-live a single day over- not even one.  Not because I don't appreciate the journey but because as any pioneer know's- you hold tight to the ground already covered- it wasn't easy walking getting where you are.  Each step takes courage, concentration, and determination.................

This picture was taken from the plane when we came to check out our job- We
had never even stepped foot on or seen our island before- I remember my thoughts were a mixture of
excitement and sheer terror at the thought of moving here- I grabbed my camera just before the plane
was going to land and visually captured a picture that will be forever burned into my memory-

P.S. Used 4 eggs for breakfast (made potato's O'Brian with bacon and scrambled eggs- thanks for the idea when I stayed at your house Holly!) and 3 eggs for blueberry/sour cream cheese cake- 103 to go!!