Guest Blog by Genesis Lodise, Monica's Husband
On Achieving Goals
Lesson Number One in Achieving Goals - Achieving goals is good. Do so often.
Three years ago we made a goal. We knew that when our son reached school age we would either home school him or have to relocate to a place that had better schools. We also knew that we were ready for a new challenge.
We sat down and thought about where we could live if we didn't live in the Bay Area.
We started with places in the US. And that narrowed to California and maybe Washington State.
Neither of us likes the cold, depressing winters that occur outside of California.
We had visited Seattle once...during the summer. We found Seattle a very pleasant city. We stayed in the city and on Bainbridge island with a friend. Now, that is a place to live. And what an investment. Land there has gone up about 300% since our visit.
But, after careful consideration, we decided to "go west".
"Going west" is a family motto.
On my grandmother's side we have spent our entire American existence moving from the east to the west. Starting in the 1700s we went from Virginia to Tennessee to Missouri to Texas to Oregon and California.
So, given the history it really made sense to just keep moving in that direction.
Our criteria: warm, humid weather to help with Monica and Gus's excema, good schools, a small safe community. And that's how we decided to move to Moloka'i HI. So we put a piece of paper on our fridge that said "Hawai'i 2008."
Actually we were not the first in the family to contemplate AND actuate a move to Moloka'i. My aunt and uncle had purchased two acres in 2003 and built their dream home there over the next couple of years. Their plan was to live there and continue working either on a consulting basis or on trips to the mainland.
Which made us think, "Hey, we just need an internet connection..."
Then someone came into our house in Oakland on Memorial Day while we were out shopping and took my laptop. So we started to look in earnest at houses on Moloka'i. And we found one.
It is the same size as our starter house in West Oakland. But the lot it sits on is three times as large. It also abuts a wilderness that runs from the ocean up into the mountains where during the rainy season we are treated to a series of waterfalls. And, it is one street from the elementary school where 90% of the kids are Asian Pacific Islander. That's big deal for our "hapa" kid.
On our new block, which is a cul-de-sac, lives two police officers, a firefighter, a nurse, a teacher, a retired couple, artists, and us.
We bought the house in September (site unseen) and had planned to rent it until we could make our arrangements for moving. But, the rent over there isn't even close to the monthly payment. And, after Hawai'i's rental tax we'd be looking at little to nothing. So we instead put our mainland house up for sale and after the craziness of the holiday season aggressively pushed it.
Luckily we did so just as the market started sliding and not *after* it had reached the bottom.
Interestingly the Hawai'ian market mirrors the Bay Area market but is off by two years. So we'll expect a nice slowdown around the next two years.
With a close date of February 28th we got our stuff out of the house, selling anything that couldn't fit dimensionally into a suitcase. Monica and Gus went to stay with her parents in San Diego for the two weeks it would take me to ship our newly purchased Toyota truck. And I moved in to a friend's spare room in the Rockridge district of Oakland; the place that I would be spending the majority of my time for the next three months.
After two weeks of phone calls back and forth it was very nice to finally have the family back together as we boarded a plane to Honolulu.
Our house on Moloka'i is everything that we had hoped it would be. Gus can run out the door and into the street to play with all the other kids without us worrying about his safety (well, okay, we still worry a little). We are not concerned about his getting asthma from the metropolitan air. The water is clean and clear and the produce (grown locally) will make up for the imported goods that cost a fortune.
We feel good, if not great, about his new school. The class averages fourteen students per teacher. However, the standards are not as high as the mainland... we will just supplement his public education with some of our own: "It's "Apple+N" for a new window."
The neighbors have been very welcoming. People who are visiting the island are starting to ask us for directions.
I spend one week a month on the island and the rest in Oakland. This way we can transition our business from a lot of face time to just a little bit. Starting in June I will spend only five days a month on the mainland meeting with clients, making new connections, and finalizing work.
Our dream was to provide an environment where our son could thrive and we could feel a sense of accomplishment.
And a place where we can just take a break and make sandcastles at a beach with coconut trees.
Rule Number Two in Achieving Goals: Recognize the accomplishment. Celebrate
and reward yourself.
We highly recommend champagne, long awaited dental work and new shoes.
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