Well, the cat is out of the bag and the excrement has hit the fan -- I can now publicly talk about my plans to leave the subtropics for the wilder climes of the North Coast. It has been difficult to write here these past few months, as my mind has been almost entirely occupied with this impending migration and events and considerations surrounding it. Some people from work know about my website, so I didn’t want to talk about it here, lest it create an awkward situation in my “real” life. But now everyone who needs to know has been informed and I can get on with telling you, my invisible readers, of my plans.

The decision to leave Hawaii was not an easy one. I moved here five and a half years ago to be with someone I thought was going to be The One. For the most part, it was a very good relationship, but it ends up there were a few incompatibilities that neither of us was willing to compromise on. So, the relationship is over, and I am now on my own. I have a good job and a growing freelance business, but I’m finding that it’s not enough to be able to support the kind of life I want to have. I’ve done the poor-college-student lifestyle three times now: in college, a few years post-college when I was working my way out of debt, and just after moving here. I am not up for it again. I like eating out, being able to afford my ceramics studio fees, buying books, and going to movies -- all those little things that make life fun. Buying a house is a very real possibility in Ohio, and it’s not here. And the more freelance I take on, the less time I have for conducting a happy life. Add to the financial considerations the memories that lurk around every corner, a desire to be closer to friends and family, the ability to travel without having to get on a plane, and a growing restlessness with the limited options available here, then top it off with some family considerations, and it becomes clear what I need to do.

There are things that I will miss about Hawaii: the good weather and the beach, obviously, the casualness of everything, some fantastic friends, a wonderful ceramics studio, a great boss, the mountains, favorite places, and, well, I’ll admit it, the caché of being “the one who lives in Hawaii.” Come February 2003 on the shores of Lake Erie with an Alberta Clipper blowing through the crack under the front door, I’ll likely be questioning my sanity in deciding to move. A good friend who made the same move advised me to just tell everyone that I’m on crack, because they’re all going to think it anyway. She might be right.

But I’m looking forward to Cleveland. My family has lived there always. I went away to college when I was 18 and the most time I’ve spent in Cleveland since was the three months between freshman and sophomore years. I’ve never really lived there as an adult, so it’s almost like moving to a completely new city -- just with the benefit of an established network of family and friends and a vague recollection of how everything is situated (although most of the street names are lost to the sands of time for me). I’ll have access to amazing libraries, world-class museums, and the Western Reserve Historical Center, so I can work again on my genealogy project again with a little more ease. I’ll get to spend time with my niece and nephew -- one of the things I’m looking forward to the most -- and with my sister and Mom and everyone else. I can have all of my books and other things together in one space.

My to-do list grows longer by the minute. For every one thing I check off, I seem to add three more. This week, the most pressing needs are to make more lists and to see about getting an estimate from a moving company. I know it will probably be more than I want to spend, but in the long run it might be worth it to not have to schlep boxes to the post office and UPS.
- posted by Lori @ 9:32:00 PM | permanent link | |