Reply #45: Was very lucky, ended up next door to Santa Barbara.Palm trees.Mountains. Blue sky.Ocean.

[Hekate]

It broke my heart to leave the Islands because my basic plan in life was to stay there forever. Shoulda married a local boy instead of a coast haole, but that's the brokes. I met that one in a college in San Bernardino County, where I was homesick beyond belief for green things, wetness, and clean air. The high desert is an acquired taste, but smog perfumed with steel mill is really bad. I took myself back to UH, he followed me, and I was able to stay another dozen years before he decided to move back to California.

The lucky part was that he said I could pick the town, so we drove up the coast from Cucamonga as far as Paso Robles before turning back. When I got to Santa Barbara, I just knew. I don't ever want to live futher inland than I do now, which is maybe 3 to 5 miles from the beach. It turned out to be a lot more expensive than expected and we did get divorced fairly soon after, but I love the Central Coast. And, again lucky, I met my second (and final) husband here. Raised the Oahu-born keikis here. Now I'm a tutu here. 's good.

Kaneohe is nice, just wetter than Kailua. And green. I'm getting all smiley just thinking about it.

Hekate