We have had a long June already and it is only the 21st of June. The past months seem like they flashed by and are already left far behind, already collecting dust in the recesses of my mind.
Moving this time was a struggle as I had grown to love Newport long before the detailer saw us fit to be there. The years in Japan hoping for Newport came to fruition and the year of what I had only thought a dream was over in a blink of the eye and the time to move on to another duty station was upon us.
Keeping true to our spirit of adventure and never looking for the status quo we have found ourselves once again outside of the confines of the United States. Although we are not technically in another country the preparation to move to Hawaii and complete the three-tiered stages of packing out the house from storage, express, to main shipment. We are now officially part of the island life of Hawaii and have found the transition to be full of twists, turns, and the overwhelming feeling that we are back outside of the U.S.A. and ready to embrace the oddities, coolness, and special nuances that have kept this state in a league of its own.
I chose to drive "Hans" (our friendly Passatt for those of you who don't know that we name our vehicles) with my mom, kids, and Kendo in tow down to Virginia in order to spend some time saying goodbye before sending Hans on his own vehicular adventure that would lead him to Hawaii while we all boarded a jet plane. I must admit that I'm rather delighted that I chose to stick to that option. The memories I made with mom will forever be relived as we drive with Kendo anywhere (Frebreeze anyone?!?!) in the car, looking at the Big Bad Wolf rollercoaster will now be remembered as R's first ever real big person coaster, and after spending only a year and a half on the Atlantic side of the country for the first time in at least 10 years it was nice to know that I had fallen in love with New England and had the opportunity to be close to family for awhile.
We arrived in Honolulu a painful 10 hours or so later than we departed the East coast. As we approached the islands, I looked over at J and said "oh my...the island is tiny!!!!" Thankfully I was looking at the wrong island. The islands we flew over were gorgeous from the air and I am definitely thrilled that the water is so blue. My kind of water color. I can see!!! No murk and gurk. We crammed our heads out of the window of the aircraft to get the first glimpse of our new "home" in the middle of the endless Pacific...gasps, wows, and ahhs were heard as we caught the first glimpses of Oahu. I think I'm going to like this place I remember thinking....if only they give me Kendo! (Preparing Kendo for this tour took the entire year and a half and then some more as we ran into the Commonwealth of Virginia laws governing Animal Health Certificates...they have more laws that don't make sense but somehow as a trained jumper through hoops I ended up following the quirkiness to the tee).
I see Ford Island, the Arizona Memorial, and Pearl Harbor and I'm still wondering how we got these orders. People would love to be in my shoes and I'm worrying about the cat!!!??!! I'm still thinking I'm going to like this place...especially with a Dunkin' Donut cawfee, my family, and my cat. The nerves mounted as we landed and were quickly calmed as we were greeted with beautiful smelling leis and smiling friends that we have known since J's first assignment as a lowly Ensign at VFA-82. Elation doesn't even describe how happy we are that they are here. We are looking forward to having the two families blend together and enjoy the island's offerings. Without them being there to greet us at the airport I doubt we would have know which way to go and getting to the Lodge would have taken twice as long.
We have arrived. We are in Paradise. As for Kendo, the State of Hawaii determined in less than 10 minutes that we had met all the requirements and we were leaving with Kendo to resume our adventure as a family into Paradise only without a cup of cawfee from Dunkin'.
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