My story

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

“Let’s just go look at some real estate while we’re here”

Those were the words that would start us on the biggest and best adventure of our lives. There we were, my husband, my nearly-two year old son, and I laying in the warm lapping waves on a little beach in Lahaina Town. We were on vacation for my husband’s birthday.

We had dreamed of moving to Hawaii for the last two years, having fallen instantly in love with it when we first visited when my son was just three months. It always felt so wonderful when we were here and our hearts ached like it does for a long lost love every time we had to return to the mainland.

There we were two years later, laying on the beach with an appointment to see a little house that was up for sale.

When I saw the house from the outside I wanted to run. But, we had only one rental car and it was my husband’s birthday. I gave in, “ok, let’s check it out.”

We walked in and were greeted with the island of Lanai staring back at us across the Pacific ocean, being shown in all it’s glory through the wall of floor to ceiling windows. At that moment, the rest of this fixer-upper house became a blur. We were intoxicated with the view, the giant Plumeria trees surrounding the property and the HUGE palm trees that marked the corners.

When we found out that the orange tree in the backyard was planted when the current owner brought her first son home, and that her first son shared the name of our first son…we knew it was meant to be.

It was fate. All signs pointed Go!

Then we learned that the current owner was friends with a man that was my husband’s boss in high school. The owner of a surf shop, this man was looked up to by my husband. He kept him out of trouble and offered a place for me to sit and visit and make googly eyes with my then high school sweetheart while he worked.

What were the chances that my husband’s old boss, confidant, mentor, had been in the wedding of the seller of this house!

Fate. All signs pointed GO!

We soon found ourselves on our way back to Southern California, just in time for it to turn cold for Thanksgiving. Except this time we weren’t returning with a heavy heart. No, instead we were returning with our very first house in escrow.

IN HAWAII!

And so started us on the path of making our dreams come true, following our hearts and listening when something bigger than us says “GO! DO IT!”

(I try my hardest to always listen to the signs. To live my life that way. Is it intuition? Realization? Being present? Or just listening? I say it’s all of the above.)

The Ohana Mama

We all can’t move to Maui but we can all keep that dream alive. I hope you enjoy The Ohana Mama; to hear dispatches from paradise, find things to do when you are coming to visit on vacation and when you just need a little escape to aloha-land.

And hey, my husband, he’s now a Realtor, so he could even offer you a chance to look at some Maui real estate…you know, just to check it out ;)

Aloha and mahalo for visiting, I’m glad you found me!

Sarah, The Ohana Mama

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