I made it safely to Hawaii!
I am fucking LOVING IT on Oahu. I have never been as atpeace and in love with anyone or anything as I am this island. I've gone snorkeling almost every day, I'm already tan as I've ever been, and it's like everywhere I turn, I have a thousand opportunities to take a photo.
Check it:
I'm going to be upfront: I started this blog literally three days shy of a month ago. I've been so busy doing stuff and things to finish it. My husband is sleeping right now, despite the fact that we're supposed to be going hiking today, but that's ok. He only has a few more days off before he goes back to work, and he may be heading off to DC for four months after that, so if he wants to sleep until noon, I'm content to let him.
In the month that it's taken me to come back to this, I've taken thousands more photos, which obviously I will share in a moment. I've also explored only about one percent of the island, and I am pleased to report I am more in love than ever. This place feels like home. I've only ever reserved that word for Ithaca, Colorado Springs, and Vegas, but the last time I went to Vegas, it felt unfamiliar, and when I went to Colorado Springs a few months ago, I felt like an interloper. I don't feel that way here, though. I feel calm and happy, and time goes slowly enough that I can enjoy my moments instead of feeling frenzied in them. I don't want to leave here ever.
I am still snorkeling more often than I'm not. I have a beach right down the street from my house, but because of the season, the water conditions aren't terribly conducive to swimming, unless I also want to die. Driving over to the side of the island where the water is calm is a haul, but it's worth it, so we make the drive a lot. A lot a lot. Derek and I found a really great spot too snorkel that is NEVER crowded, it's always just us and the fish. Given that it's so still, I shouldn't have been shocked when an octopus did whatever the oceanic equivalent of lumbering is at us, swam with us for a minute, and then got all freaked the fuck out and darted under a rock, waiting for us to leave. Every few minutes, it poked its head out to see if we were still there, which duh, we were, and after about ten minutes, it resigned itself to the fact that these two rude humans weren't going anywhere, and it just tentacled out and went about its business. I didn't think our ocean experience could get any cooler without paying a lot of money for people to take us to go swim with dolphins or sharks or some shit, and then the next day, as the sun was setting and I was snorkeling lazily around our private-ish little bay, I saw a blotchy figure that I knew wasn't a rock. I swam a few yards closer, and it was a fucking sea turtle. Just hanging out, being gorgeous and majestic and graceful and amazing, and I lost my god damn shit. I frantically waved my husband over, and this sea turtle was lovely and gracious enough to wait for him to arrive, and once he did, the three of us swam together across the bay. For hundreds of yards, I swam with one of the most protected and treasured creatures in Hawaii, and all I could do was cry and laugh into my snorkel mask. It was absolutely amazing.
Everything here amazes me. I am never not in awe of my new home. I have a yard full of gold dust day geckos that delight me for the moments during the day that I'm home, and then at night, different geckos come out and bark and sing, and it sounds like an entirely different universe. My skin is gorgeously dark and soft and slightly sticky from all of the salt, my hair is wild and curly because I refuse to waste time straightening it if I'm just going back out into the ocean, and I cannot remember the last time I frowned. I am ALWAYS smiling, and it's nothing short of incredible that I feel this happy.
I love it here.
Here are some more photos that do not do this place justice.
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