Ten Three

October 3, 2004 I moved to Maui. I am not a brave person by nature so making such a drastic move was terrifying. I remember talking to Erin on the phone after being here a week or two. I hated it. I was lonely, missing Blithe, and felt completely uncomfortable. I don't handle change well.
Months later, I had made new friends, met some of the most amazing, giving people I had ever known, learned to surf, eaten lau lau, been put in the Young Women presidency and found a job. I was a part of the island. I belonged.
October 3, 2006 our first child is due. Although she didn't come on time, that date, the third, sticks in my mind as I repeated it, stared at it on the calendar, and told it to people over and over again. Exactly two years after I stepped foot on this island, I was to bring another person to it.
Now, as the two year anniversary of Lily's birth approaches, four years after I moved here, I am feeling incredibly nostalgic. I have changed, I think in mostly good ways. I have learned so much from the friends that I have met here and from the island itself. It is amazing what you have time to notice about life and nature without the seasons to distract you.
I have never been subject to such beauty and generosity as I have here. With groceries 30% more expensive than the rest of the nation, you wouldn't expect to be invited to dinner 5 nights in a month, or to have a potluck at church three weeks in a row. Even the snacks at nursery are full meals!
I love Maui and I can't wait for the adventures that wait my family in the next two, four, or forty years to come.




Chris has accepted a job with Sherwin Williams in Sandy, UT. We move October 3, 2008.