Paradise

Joel and I moved to Hawaii 3 days after 9/11. We had been building the house for over a year and this was our planned moving date. I was on the phone with the airlines for hours the night before departure trying to get on our flight to Hawaii. We were the first flight leaving the east coast after 9/11. It was a bit eerie at the airport. We arrived at 5:30 a.m. Lights were dim and very few people were there.  Joel had packed hie scissors in his carry on; after all,we were were moving. They took his scissors away - this was the first of strict airline security measures. People were coming from Boston to D.C. to get on this flight which went to San Francisco. San Francisco airport was also eerily quiet as we boarded our flight to Hawaii. We felt very prescient to have timed our move at this juncture. Thank goodness we were headed to the islands and leaving the insanity behind.

We had been flying back and forth every six weeks while building the house and were happy to finally be in one place. The house wasn't quite finished- the finished floor still needed to go down, but we could get settled in somewhat and begin this new adventure in our lives.

The next night we stood out on our lanai looking at the moonlit night over the ocean and sighed with happiness. We were living in paradise! I had a glass of wine and sipped it slowly as I looked at the beauty of our view. Suddenly something flew by my head and landed in my wine glass! In disbelief, I looked in the glass and saw it was a giant cockroach!!

Welcome to paradise....