Thanks for the Moondance

I sit at Andrea's kitchen counter and I stare out the back door to an immense backdrop of the Ko‘olaus. The clouds hang low keeping the the top of this austere mountain range shrouded. We're on our second leg of our trek to the Big Island. This is the Kaneohe part of the trip. I love the Windward side of O‘ahu. It's so green, so fertile. Yesterday, we said goodbye to Cory, Stephanie and Kaian and their beautiful home on Alewa Heights. Kaian and Bodhi played in the yard most of the morning and we topped the a.m. off with a lunch of pizza from JJ Dolan's and cheesecake from Otto Cake. JJ's is some of, if not perhaps, the best pizza in Hawai‘i. Check it out if you haven't already.

I love Van Morrison's "Moondance" album. A lot of the songs on it express the free spirit of the gypsy lifestyle. I'm coming to understand the feeling of being able to pack all your possessions into a covered wagon, heading out to the next stopping place. Right now, our covered wagon is our wonderful neighbor, John's, Saturn station wagon chock filled with things we didn't put in the container. It can either be a liberating experience or it can be an unsettling one. I'm choosing to feel liberated through this whole experience. Over the past few weeks we've relied heavily on the kindness of friends. It was everything from watching Bodhi while we packed, helping us pack, offers of meals, cars and lodging. Initially it was challenging for me to feel like I was imposing on people. This feeling is, perhaps, more acute in me because of my Asian upbringing. But what I'm realizing, is that like me, people want to be generous and it's important to give people opportunities to be generous. I know opportunities will come up for me to be generous to others and I will take them. It is my vision that I will be as generous as those that have helped us through this process. So my payback for now is simply to express the tremendous appreciation for all that we have. Thank you.