A Little FYI!!!

I have been thinking about doing this post for a while and today after getting an email from my best friend and mentioning something that's been on my mind for a while, I've decided today is as good a day as any to post this. Now this post is not by any means to discourage or to be made to sound like a whine or complaint because in all honesty, I do love where I'm living right now.

Whenever a person who doesn't live here find out I live in Hawaii, one of the top things they usually say is..."oh wow, you're so lucky you live in Paradise". I am listed on the Mormon Mommy Bloggers list "Sweeter Life". What is that mean? Does it mean because I am living in Hawaii or what others dub as Paradise, I am living the sweeter life? What is a sweeter life? Does it mean that if a person live in the land of mostly summertime, that person does not have any other worries or problems that those who live elsewhere has?

Do you know that there is a price for living in Paradise? Do you know that there is a huge cost to having sun all year round...well majority of the time anyways?

A few years ago, I worked as driver for the airport shuttle for BYUH. I took the job because it was fun and easy job...the hours of the job was very flexible esp. for a mom with kids who are still at home. I love the hours, they have different shift so I could pick the time that worked best for me and of course, I loved little break time for me. I also love meeting the new students that were coming or leaving BYUH.

Because it's at least an hour drive, sometimes I would strike up conversations with the students just see what their plans are either when they return home or what they're plans were for college. I often notice that there is kind of a pattern with their responses. The students who were leaving, when I asked them how they liked BYUH, oh they would carry on and on about how wonderful the beach is, the sun and how laid back life is here. But all that fun must come to an end and it's time to go back to reality. {How rude!! See me here in the van...I live here, does it look like I'm living some dream life or a fantasy life?} But of course, I usually kept my mouth shut and just let them go on and on with their plans. The kids who were coming {usually these mainland kids would come for just a semester, and usually during spring and summer term}, you can tell their excitement. The uppmost on their things they wanted to do....that was after asking me where would be the place to go surfing or hiking. Excuse me but I thought they were coming to BYUH to go to school. But of course, I was gracious enough to suggest a few great surfing places and a few hiking places that I know....usually something close to the school. It was good to see them excited about this place and sometimes I couldn't help but be excited for them.

But like all good things, there's also a bad side too. Like I said, there is a prize for Paradise. There is a huge cost of the sun. Because Hawaii is a such a beautiful and sought after place, tourism is a huge industry here. From tourism, comes the extremely high cost of living. Costs of homes and everything else here cost either twice or trice the cost of mainland living...ok so most of the mainland states. A friend of mine just recently moved here from Tennessee and we were talking on the phone and while were catching up on each other's life, she gasp and exlaimed,

"What is up with the price of milk here? I have to ask...does the cows here eat a certain diet that's different from the mainland cows makes the milk here to cost more?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that. I knew what she was talking about because just a couple of days before our conversation, I was the grocery store and when I came upon the milk, there were some guys standing there, pointing at the price of the milk, shaking their heads in disbelief. Yeah, the price of the milk was eight bucks a gallon. I was laughing on the inside when I saw them, I'm sure it must've been quite a shock for them. The lowest cost of milk is about five bucks unless they go on sale then it's around three bucks or so. So when my friend was going on and on about the milk, I was laughing, not that I was trying to be rude or anything. And that's not the only thing that the price can choke a person. Everything, food, clothing, housing....the cost is higher than mainland cost.

And the sun....oh you mainlanders are always saying, that us island dwellers have no cause to be depressed about anything since we live in the land of sunshine and all year summer. But does anyone know that because of how expensive things are here, the surest way to get a free activity is going to the beach? And hanging out at the beach in the blazing sun brings on sunburn and even lead to skin cancer? {And I'm not saying that we're the only ones who worry about cancer because cancer does not discriminate.} Yes, it's a great place in that the weather is great but it's got it's drawback in that from the sun, and most activities revolve around the sun and beach, sunburn is unavoidable. Oh yeah, we do use sunscreen but eventually the thing wears out and if one doesn't reapply, you can bet there will be sunburn.

The last couple weeks it's been freezing over here. Yeah yeah yeah....you're laughing at me saying, I don't know what freezing is until I've lived in a Utah or Idaho winter. Yes, I know what Utah winter is like that is why I am really glad I am not living in a Utah winter but at least you can go in your house and turn on your heater. There are no heaters whatsoever in Hawaii. You can file on all the blankets you can find in your house to keep warm but then a person will never be able to get up and do any housechores without dragging those blankets around. To keep warm sometimes, we turn on our oven. And if you're like me, your oven would probably smell crappy because more often than not, I forget that I've spilled something in the oven two days or a day before when I was trying to roast chicken or bake our last minute unplanned dinner....LOL. So who would want to smell a stinky oven all day long just to keep warm?

So, if I am saying that I am freezing my buns off...I really am freezing my buns off...LOL. I am not writing this post to get some sympathy or to make it sound like a whining or complaint post, I'm merely trying to point out that even living in Paradise as most people see it has it's disavantages. Sometimes we don't have a choice in where we live. Don't get me wrong, I love living here but I would much prefer living someplace where I don't have to worry so much about how expensive even the basic needs are.

One more disadvantage of living here is that, I can't just get in the car and drive to my family's house or my in-law's house. If I actually want to see any of my family, the only way for me to do that is through air and of course that can be costly too. At least living on the mainland, you can just throw your stuff in the back of your car and cross the state line to go see grandma and granpa or mom and dad.

So if by chance any of us island dwellers or Paradise dwelling mommies ramble a little bit about how we might be bordering a little bit on the D word, as Crash would call it, be a little more understanding. Our fears, hopes and dreams are as real as those of you mainland dwellers.

With that said, I want to let you all know that I do love you all!!

This is my ramblings for the day, need to get 'em off my chest. If I ended up losing followers or offending readers...it is not my intention at all to be offensive. As I said earlier, this post is only meant to inform.