Monday, December 15, 2014

Wailuku, Maui

I've discovered the downside of homelessness: No Home!!
For seven months I've been celebrating the liberation of being without a 'permanent' home, traveling, hanging out, moving on...at whim. Loving being a gypsy. Now I'm back, hoping to re-settle on my favorite US island long enough to process lessons, write, re-fill the coffers, and (bah humbug)...no places, no rentals, no luck. I call Craigslist ads. Calls go unreturned. I email, but have no wireless connection, and there's only one within walking distance, so online communication is tough. The local paper has a few ads, which I call with the same results. I make requests of old Maui friends, Facebook friends. I go see a couple - yikes! (long, funny stories). It's a landlord's market...and a growing group of comrades gather each morning at the coffee shop to jump on the wireless (hey, it was everywhere in France...and much faster), check new ads, commiserate.

At a friend's suggestion I check out Senior Housing (via a circuitous route which takes 4 stops - unlike Oregon which has one stop senior shopping for all services). The people I need to leave my form with are 'out', so I leave it with another, who just calls to say I need to re-submit it since I have to have an address on the form even if I don't have one. Did I mention my temp phone (mine was pickpocket in Cannes, remember?) charges by the minute, and I've already put $60 on it in 1 week?!  Five hours later I am impatient, angry, feeling the call to just move on...Thailand? New Zealand? Back to France?

Joel calls with a studio for 3 weeks...only $1500 plus deposits. I do not jump. I would rather move on, but now my car is arriving, and has no home either. hmmmmmmmm. I spy an ad for a small bedroom with shared bathroom in Paia and get excited. OMG. How desperate can a girl get? Then some light - a mainland friend with an empty Kihei condo...for 5 days.  Breathing room (thanks, Holly). And good friends live that side...and to those who wander, friends are the touchstones, the extra joy added to the bucket full in a journeying lifestyle.

Most of us who tramp the globe have a certain sense -when to stay, when to go. I'm certain I'll know the signs...to stay, to keep on moving. Breathe! Smile! The sun's out, and it's another gorgeous island day!!