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Paradise lost, renegade found

We’re totally over Hawaii. Funny, huh? I mean over it. The beach routine, the driving between mindless relaxing activities, the complicated culture of lucky you live Hawaii.

Right now I’m standing up outside on the hood of our truck, on the beach while my family gradually fades into slumber. The air is slightly too warm, and I can hear the static of the ocean blanketing the sporadic laughs from other campers on the beach.

You’d think the scene here is a dream, but alas—we are renegades. We seek adventure in foreign lands, mind-boggling challenges, hard-to-swallow slices of humanity. All with each other. It’s like we’re the S.S. Bohannan, adrift in the open sea, seeking new lands while keeping everyone safe and sound.

Do we go to the other island, Oahu, where it’s known, safe and semi-progressive? Or California, which is tough but ultra-progressive? How about mystifying Bali? San Diego?

Where we go, it’s not going to be on this Island. We’re done here. We’ve done it. The ceiling has been hi and it’s not going any higher.

It sounds strange, but I’d like to kindly ask this Island to let us go. Let us explore the world, take in our fellow humans and learn from them. Become better people. Then, help other people. Maybe even bring some of that malama and kokua back here.

We can’t stay. We’re renegades now. A family on a mission to be free of all that keep us captive, including ourselves.

Don’t really know where we’re going, but I do know that I have to get there really soon. We’re on a very tight timeline, way beyond a school schedule. This time together is the most valuable time we’ll have with our kids, before they start leaving, one by one…