Aloha?

This latest obsession about the 50th state is pretty all consuming. The more we read and find out, we're finding out more pros, and obviously, more cons. In addition to the poor education system, one of the other worries that I've been having is the institutional racism that seems to be boiling under the wraps. I don't know if it'll affect my kids or myself that much, but I'm worried about my wife, who is used to being part of the majority race. I mean, fair to say that in Washington, racism is alive and simmering as well. Even my wife has experienced some of this through my children's eyes, when we were in Packwood and some lady was commenting on our kids being Asian. "Haoles" as they are referred to, as just Cauasians who they feel stole the island from them, and turned it into just a tourist-driven economy. Some people are bothered by it, some aren't. I guess the concensus is that if an individual is open and respectful to the Hawaiian culture, they will be accepted as such. Common sense, really.

I've been lurking the forums and asking questions, just trying to get the most information I can possibly get to make an informed decision. We're even going so far as to thinking about a vacation to the islands at the end of the year to get a preview to the kind of lifestyle Hawaii has to offer.

I think though, for now I have to leave the idea alone for a while - it's consuming my mind a little too much to be anyway close to being healthy - looking at Flickr with "Hawaii" tags, looking up advice from natives, just submerging myself in wayyyy too much info. And my wife is pretty stoked about thinking about it too. She's looking at the change in lifestyle, a possibly slower pace of life, a change in scenery.

Now we know that it's easy to dream about paradise in the dead of winter in Washington, especially how cold and wet it is right now. But if this urging persists after summer, maybe we'll just have to try it and see.