Morning in Kona 3:51 AM 20 Dec 2005

Landed in Kona last night after flying standby. I was supposed to have left on the 430 flight but because I was flying on the Buddy Pass I was flying standby and when the eleven people showed up at the last minute, they had to bump me to the next flight. So instead of flying out at 430 we left around 545. We had a nice dinner last night. The house was rather full. Russell was here and his friend Loren was staying over. Seeing the two of them makes me feel old. Marla was here as well along with Elijah, one of her grandkids. He’s a year older than Ryen to the month, which means that he turns 6 in Feb. when Ryen turns 5. Oddly Ryen is much smarter. This kid was nice, but was struggling to spell words like “green” and “fire” where I’m pretty sure Ryen would look at my like I’m an idiot if I asked him to spell those. Then again, maybe not. I know he reads very well, but we don’t normally ask him to spell words. Anyhow, including myself, there are 6 people in the house so it doesn’t feel empty at all.

It felt like it was going to be cold this evening, and don’t get me wrong, I’ve got on a sweater, but the temperature isn’t as cold as I figured it would be. This house usually gets pretty chilly in the mornings, but it can’t be that bad right now because I still have shorts on and no socks. I know it gets cold when I have to wear socks

Being here simultaneously makes me feel better and worse. I feel more relaxed here, in part because I know I can’t change in anything going on back home and I try not to stress too much over the things that I cannot affect change in. Secondly, this is a busy house. Not that I’m busy but it seems like there are a number of distractions here. We’ll see how long that lasts but for now, it’s not bad. There is also some sense of security here. Not really anything I can put my finger on, just some sense of security from being here.