February

 It's been a while, hasn't it? Many things going on which have me burning the candle on both ends - some on the family front, and some on the work front. Life is happening, that's for sure! But nothing that will stop the show from going on.

As we get closer to finishing up this chapter of life in the islands, I find myself getting a little torn on wanting to stay in the place I was born - that took so long for me to return to - but also wanting to return back to the Pacific Northwest, where Mrs Lenman and I still own our dream retirement home on the golf course. We bought it before we even knew we were going to move here as the opportunity to return to the islands was an unexpected surprise in my career path.

There are many things that make both of us want to stay in Hawaii, particularly the weather. ...oh, and did I say the weather? Geez - the past few days where we had nothing but rain and clouds here really depressed me. It makes me wonder how I'm going to be able to handle going back to the PNW - even after having lived there for over a decade before moving here, as I was just barely able to hang on to my sanity during the October through June timeframe the last few years before we moved. That's when the weather was what I called 'Chinese Water Torture Season,' and it really got to me. It was so bad that I seriously think I had a bad case of seasonal affective disorder just before moving in February three years ago to come here. So moving to Hawaii was not only good for my career, but also great for my health; actually, make that my whole family's health. I thought we were active when we lived on the mainland, but things have been taken up a few notches since we arrived here. Water, Pavement, Trails, Peddles - we're doing a physical activity where one of those is part of the PT regimen at least one day of the week! When we do move back, you can bet there'll be some challenges on going for a long slow distance run - especially when it's forty degrees and raining outside, something that didn't phase me when we lived there.

But for now, I keep reminding myself and the family that we have to live in the now, and to be grateful every day we're here. With the clock winding down until we leave, it makes things that much more worth appreciating.