No matter how idyllic a vacation is, there is something wonderful about walking back through your own front door. Not to mention something wonderful about being able to call a pizza place and have pizza delivered at 10pm. I wonder what people do when they arrive home to Molokai at 10pm after a vacation. The grocery store is closed, the neighborhood store is long closed, and I don’t really think there’s anyone on the island that delivers food even several hours earlier. We only went to one restaurant the whole time we were there, and it closed at 8pm. I wonder what they do?
Well, I imagine they call up their neighbors and ask them if they have any leftovers. Three of the five nights we were in Molokai visiting our friends, their neighbors unexpectedly provided dinner for us. The second night we were there, Tom and Georgie called to say that Tom had caught Mahi Mahi that day and did we want any (yes!) Two nights later, on the 4th of July, they invited us, along with 20 or so other neighbors, for a potluck.
The following night, some other neighbors, Larry and Diane, invited us over for turkey dinner; just bring a side dish, they told us. All of the guests had been next door with us the night before. I imagine, if you lived there full-time, you would always be able to find something to eat by calling one of these wonderful neighbors. We were only guests of our friends (who are now the new kids on the block), and we feel like we are part of their neighborhood too! What a pleasant change to the standard tropical island vacation, it was more like visiting Small Town, USA (but with what felt like third-world charm thrown in—like you weren’t even in the US at all!)
The sign at the Molokai airport welcomes visitors to “the friendly island.” Turns out it's true; who needs pizza delivery with neighbors like that?
Well, it sounds like you had a nice trip (not a vacation). Is this what retirement is, just visiting here and there on a whim or eating with otheres on just a casual invitation? No previous obligation like a job or set schedule that must be met? Your life so unstructured that days no longer have formal, seperate names. Now days are just yesterday, today, tomorrow, last week or next week. I want that!
But 5 days is just not long enough, though. I need that many just to wind down from work-opps-you don't have to. Never mind.
Posted by: bongo | July 07, 2008 at 03:49 PM