Whew! I haven't I posted in so long because I have just been too busy. Boxing up our daughters' lifetime accumulation of stuff is a challenge. And I want to say right now that most of these things were boxed but in boxes not suitable for moving. Thus the transfer of dozens and dozens of boxes into sturdier boxes. And then the questions arise. How heavy should I make them? Sure the movers can handle them but can we after they get to where their first stop is? We will have to move some of them again. So did Child actually go through this box? It seems to have a lot of useless detritus in it. Will send photo and ask. How am I going to package this enormous picture? What about this old roasting pan? Does she really want it?  I think I'll toss it and let her get a new one. And so it goes.
There are so many things that still need to be taken care of. What if the movers don't show up? Don't even want to go there but it did come up in conversation. Can't even imagine our last day in this house. Hoping we don't realize at the last minute that there were things we need that didn't get packed up. The movers will have been long gone by then. I guess that is our nightmare du jour.
I am also wondering how to say goodbye to everyone. Will I walk around the neighborhood and knock on every one's door? Or will we just quietly disappear. How to say good bye to the dry cleaners and the bagel people. I don't want them to think I don't like their service anymore and that is why I am not coming back. I guess I will have to drop by those places too.
I've already said goodbye to my dentist. Dr. Moore and his staff are excellent and I am really, really going to miss them.
Too many visits to Box Stop to count. But I must say that the gentleman behind the counter there is most helpful.
I have driven the route to Shadelands Storage so many times the car can practically drive itself without my direction. Today I said goodbye to the lady behind the counter there and walked away from the empty storage unit. One more thing to cross off the list of things to do.
On the one hand departure day seems way too far off. On the other hand it seems like we won't have it all done in time. The Lahaina things are going on Tuesday. Chicago stuff goes the following Monday. Will everything be packed in time? I am sure it will but it seems like an impossibility.
I guess the thing is that while we are moving out very soon I won't be on Maui for another month beyond move out day. I will be driving to Ann Arbor, Chicago and Oberlin, helping daughters move into new quarters. So Maui still seems a long way off. Sigh.

Honua Kai

This is a post I started two years ago. It has to do with living on Maui.

Two years ago my husband Andy and I decided buy a condo on the beach on Maui. It hadn't been built, actually they hadn't even started it. But we were ready and eager and we decided if we didn't do it then, it wasn't going to happen.

Two years later, the resort is complete and we have moved in. Well, I mean we are owners in absentia. Except for when we aren't. Andy was here in February for the walk through. Then he came again in April after tax season. Now, finally it is my turn. I am here for the summer. School let out two weeks ago. I (with the help of some wonderful coworkers) finished my work at school on Monday and on Tuesday I was on Hawaiian Airlines flight 23, winging my way westward toward Kahului, Maui.

I arrived a little early and was on the road to Lahaina less than 45 minutes after I landed. Unfortunately, there was a grass fire on the main road leading out of Kahului and all the roads around the airport were packed with people trying to figure out how to drive to Paia. It was a mess. But I managed to get through the traffic and arrived at Honua Kai around 4 p.m. When I walked up to the front desk, I clutched my hands to my chest and said, "I'm home!" and Liz, the lady at the front desk said, "oh, you must be Mrs. Fulop". I liked that. She made sure I had everything I needed to settle in and then I went up to our unit. It is wonderful! Everything is there. Everything. Except a good shelf unit for the closet we are going to call the pantry. But I will take care of that shortly.

I unpacked and tried to figure out where I should put stuff. There are lots of closets but not a lot of drawers. Nevertheless, I found a place for everything. I figured out how to open and close the lanai doors and screen. Not an easy thing to do but once mastered it is worth it. The living room and bedroom seem to stretch forever when the doors to the lanai are open. I found the instruction manuals for all the appliances, except for the coffee maker, the only one I really needed. But I was told that our espresso machine had arrived so really, who needs drip when lattes are to be had?

All this I wrote 2 years ago! Since then we have visited our condo a few times and now we are really ready to take the plunge and move there permanently!

Stay tuned....

Now going into the second week of my retirement. What have I accomplished so far? Not a heck of a lot. Saw an A's vs. Giants game. Helped Becca go through boxes. Vacuumed the house once or twice. Had a nice lunch with one of the teachers from WCI. There must be more to retirement than this!
Boxes need to be acquired to ship the pictures we want to take with us to Maui. Must look into that. Need to rebox all of the fragile stuff going to Oberlin/Chicago. Got to get off my chair and get moving. And most importantly, I must find an audio CD or two to listen to while Rosie and I drive to Ann Arbor. Any good suggestions?

There are all kinds of marathons

There are all kinds of marathons, aren't there? Traditionally a marathon is a 26.2 mile run. Been there, done that. Maybe not as an elite runner but I have completed 15 real marathons. Then there are marathons that we use to describe continuous episodes of entertainment, such as Friends marathons or NCIS marathons and so on. And my bout with breast cancer was a kind of marathon. Covering the distance, completing the task and winning the fight.
But what about a new kind of marathon? Selling a house while trying to pack a lifetime of "stuff", moving to Maui and moving one's children's household goods and "stuff" 2/3 of the way across the country. And delivering a car to one of those children 2/3 of the way across the country. Not a traditional marathon in any sense of the word. But an ordeal of minor epic proportions. Giving up a life one has lived for 40 plus years is going to be quite a change for me. No job, no children to take care of, not even a pet. Just a small condo on the beach in a delux resort to keep me and my husband busy and happy. Oh, he still will work, he does tax work. And I will help him when he needs it, but I kind of feel like when we move there it will feel like hitting the "wall" at mile 19 in a marathon. Whoa! Can we do this successfully and happily?
Stay tuned to hear what it is like to give it all up in suburbia and move to paradise....