December in Hawaii Means Fending for Oneself

My first dinner to celebrate December in Hawaii at our house.

The thing that makes this December in Hawaii different from every other December in Hawaii over previous years for me is the fact I pretty much am forced to live in raw survival mode. I kid you not. It’s very different staying at your own house in Hawaii than going to a luxury Kona resort. For example, I can’t stick a breakfast order on my doorknob at night and have room service show up in the morning with the exact count of blueberries I requested. Nope, this distress goes much further.

This means going to the grocery store, a foreign country I rarely visit, much less a Safeway in Kailua-Kona on a street called Henry. What kind of name is that for a street among all of these streets with long vowels and Ks and H’s? It means filling up my grocery cart with basics for the house. We start with Glenfiddich, a small (not large) bottle of Maker’s Mark, a chardonnay or two. Nothing super extravagant.

My team member Barbara Dow implied that Alaskan king crab legs and champagne were not “basics,” but she didn’t realize I also bought sandwich bags. I’m not really sure why I bought sandwich bags. Couple bags of Kona coffee. Paper towels and toilet paper! Still, a bit of sticker shock set in. My basic grocery shopping list for December in Hawaii amounted to $398. That seems high to me, but then I’m comparing it to the days of grocery shopping in 1969 when a full cart meant you spent $25.

Not only do I need to cook for myself now, I also need to clean up after myself. There is no annoying housekeeping knocking on my door. All the clothes that fit in one piece of luggage managed to weigh a few pounds over Hawaiian airlines limit, but they didn’t charge extra. I am not leaving my Dry Bar hair dryer behind. However, it’s also not enough clothing for Hawaii in December, which means I’ll have to venture out into the garage and do laundry.

These activities are time sucks. These added burdens involve setting aside time during the day to specifically deal with taking care of myself, when I’d much rather be focusing on selling Sacramento real estate. Another other creepy thing is the green geckos. They are everywhere. Geckos can also sneak into your washing machine, ishy. I shriek when geckos startle me so I will need to work on that or I’ll be explaining to the police officers my neighbors have called that I am a silly wimp. Wimp or not, at least I’m at our own house to enjoy Hawaii in December.  Same work as Sacramento. Better view.