About 8 weeks ago my job had an unexpected turn of events. A co-worker of mine got word that the district had hired a permanent OT to fill the position I'm currently covering. This new person was not arriving until January, but I was supposed to be here until June 2009. So I knew things were going to change, and I would not be in control of the change. I quickly called my contract company to see what they normally do in this situation. I had 2 choices - typically they just let the person stay at their job and job share. However in my case this doesn't make sense - I hardly have enough work to keep myself busy, there is no way we both wouldn't be bored to tears if I stayed. I asked what my other option was, and she said that she could see if there was anywhere the DOE would want to move me. Aaron and I talked and prayed about it for a couple of days and decided that if they offered us somewhere we would want to check out, that we were up for the move. Rather quickly we found out that the likely options were going to be Kihei, Maui or Kailua, Oahu - and so we said we were up for the move.
I know you are thinking, is there anywhere in Hawaii that you would turn down - and the answer is a slightly snobby - yes, there are a couple places. I won't list them in fear of offending someone, but there are a few communities that I'm not sure I would feel safe in the schools.
So we got the ball moving, we thought. And then we waited, and waited. The weeks went by and I tried not to be the annoying employee calling for updates. I did well, I only called twice in 8 weeks to see if anything was new.
Last Thursday I got the call - we have news - the Maui job is yours! This is what we were hoping for honestly. We love Maui - it is beautiful, lots of sand beaches, still has a big mountain where we can get our Colorado fix at 4000-8000 feet and there are many fewer people than on Oahu.
In all the moving that we have done this past year and a half - the hardest thing is always moving away from friendships. I feel like I just started to get deeper in several of my friendships and now we are leaving. I know that these gals will be my friends for life, but friendships have to change when you don't live near each other. The element of presence certainly changes things and it is certainly more difficult to stay in as good of touch from a distance. I guess I have to know that I was here for a reason - to love, be loved, to grow, to share, to bless and to be blessed. And although the friendships will change, those reasons will not change from afar.
We will miss Hawaii, we will miss our Big Island friends - but we can't help to be excited for what God has planned for us during our short stay on Maui.
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