3 boring, cold months in Michigan
October through January seemed like an eternity, doing work around the house, living with cold gray weather and fitting in regular doctor, dentist and other appointments. Though Dave’s business was busy with holiday sales, we were mostly bored. Looking forward to Maui was how we survived it without losing our minds. I did fit in a 3-week painting class at the local art center, as well as the reorganization of our spare bedroom to make it a studio. I did some painting, listend to many history poscasts and started a timeline of all of my travels. I also managed to sort through and shred several years worth of old documents that I previously never got around to. Reviewing old credit card statements, I was able to fill in some gaps in travel timeline.
It was quite gratifying to review all of the cool places I have been to so far. I have been to roughly 31 countries, including 4 territories (It’s an estimate as I took several cruises and don’t recall exact itineraries). Since I met Dave, we have always taken multiple trips every year. 2001 was an epic year with 5 amazing trips – Feb -Oahu/Kauai/Maui, July – Breckenridge, Sept – Telluride, Oct – Key West, Nov – Maui. We did this all while I was working 55+ hours per week and taking MBA classes at night. I remember being very tired….
Maui
It was great to return to Maui, as always. We had more windy and rainy days, than we did last year, but there was plenty of sun.
Going through life, it is clear that nothing stays the same. Change is pretty much constant. We have noticed that on an island, that is a high-end resort area, the rate of change seems to be far greater. People change jobs and move more frequently. We know of more people dying, than on the mainland, especially young people. Many of the older people we know, no longer go to Maui. Many full-time residents leave the island. Inflation seems greater. What remains the same is the beautiful scenery, the warm weather, constant whale sightings during whale season and how happy we are to be there.
We often reflect on how we are very grateful that we had the foresight and resolve to figure out how to buy a place there, when we could. If we hadn’t, we would not be able to afford to spend much time there, now.
Two months seemed to pass very quickly. Though I’m always sad to leave, we have new camping adventures ahead.
