Love/Hate Relationship

Hawaii and I have a love/hate relationship... well, ok, honestly, it's more of a crazy love relationship, but there are a few things that, if I'm being completely honest, I HATE about Hawaii.

1st- I hate that I have to shave my legs every day, because in Hawaii one day without shaving can become a monumental day, in a very bad way. And although I’ve managed to go one full week without shaving my legs, I wasn’t brave enough to wear shorts, so I ended up wearing jeans, the only person in Hawaii to wear jeans. Perfect.

2nd- I hate having so much free time in Hawaii. Not that my life wasn’t mostly devoid of free time before I came here, but free time here becomes dangerous. There are too many good books to read (and not so good ones, only discovering that after I read them), the sun is always beckoning, the beach chairs longing for sand, and me longing for a good tan. It becomes too easy to grab a few good books and head to the beach for a nice, long day of ocean waves, crispy skin, the smell of sun screen (or lack of, in my case), and the sun bleeding down with all of its 85-90 degree force.

3rd- Which brings me to my third hate, I hate having enough time to read 5 good books at the same time. Not even waiting to finish one, I start another one, knowing that whatever mood I’m in I can just grab the one that’s most appealing and pick right back up where I left off.

4th- I hate that Hawaii is stocked full of adventurous things to do. They even give it the name, like it’s not enough to call it sky diving, it has to be “Adventure Sky Diving”, adventure hiking, biking, snorkeling, surfing… you get the picture. And well, you can’t live here without trying out all the adventurous things to do, otherwise, you’re labeled as the “non-adventurous type” and seriously, what woman at 27 inching her way to 30 wants to be labeled non-adventurous. I mean that’s all I’ve got left, the young stuff is over for me, it’s all down hill from here, without my adventurous spirit I’m just a 27 year old, weeks away from turning 28 without kids yet still battling baby fat (or whatever they call post-pregnant woman stuff). So each week I tally up all my bruises, and pray that by next week they’ll be healed enough to go out and bruise them again.

5th- And finally, I hate that we ended up living on base. Not because our house is a lot bigger than expected and my lack of decorating skills is sickeningly obvious, nor because of its location being 6 minutes away from Tim’s work (walking distance), obviously these are all very good things. But because it offers every stinkin’ club under the sun. And honestly, who can resist signing up for the gourmet cooking club, bunco club, book club, wine club, yoga club, sister surfing club, adventure club (of course they’d have an adventure club), and women’s bible study club, especially when it’s free! I’ve never been so busy before in my life, and I’m a busy person. I feel like I’m getting the sorority experience I never got in college, except everyone’s included and you don’t have to submit a picture and have girls you don’t know point out all your flaws before accepting you, all you have to be is a military spouse, which I can’t imagine someone living on base whose not.

Yet, this was suppose to be three years of sabbatical for me, three years of refining my Greek and Hebrew, three years of polishing up and preparing for more school in the future, three years of study and thoughtfulness, maybe even three years of preparing for kids, or having kids…. hmmm, oh well, I’m just having WAY too much fun! Stupid Hawaii.