Why Maui

So when I tell people my story of why I decided to move to America, the next question they always ask me is, "Why Maui?"  Oh, come on.  Duh.  Once we got the idea in our heads of moving to Maui, there really was no runner-up.  But to be fair, we didn't actually decide on Maui right off the bat, so I'll try to answer that question as seriously as possible today.

Of course, when we thought about moving back to the States, our first thought was to "move back."  In other words, to return from whence I had come -- my hometown, Atlanta, Georgia.  Not a bad idea really, I love Atlanta.  No, take that back, I loved Atlanta.  I loved Southern Hospitality and all that.  Southerners can be the most lovely people in the world.  When I was there, it was still only a moderately large city of a million people, maybe a million and a half.  Life still seemed slow, somehow.  And people were warm.   Now the population is up to what-million.  The freeways are crowded like an L.A. freeway wannabe, road-rage is a popular term, and people are just big-city busy.  Well, I'm not a big-city boy.  And I think children should be raised in smaller communities.  It's just that old-fashioned gene in me kicking in.  So that's one reason I didn't choose Atlanta.

The other reason, and I'm really sorry to say this, is ease of integration.  I need a home where my wife and children can feel accepted right away.  Just moving to a new CITY can be harrowing enough.  By moving to a new COUNTRY, they are faced with having no friends, no confidence in their communication ability, fear of not being able to keep up in school or even society.  If, on top of that, they are singled out for different skin color, eye shape or whatever, there's no way they'll come out of that with any good feeling.  Unfortunately, the South is still having some issues -- don't tell me it doesn't, we visit there as a family once a year -- and I don't need those issues dampening our new lives.

Maui, on the other hand is a perfect place for my family because of the high percentage of Asian and Asian-American families.  It's interesting because we blend in so well here, most people don't even realize we're transplants.  We expected that integration would be easier here, and we were right.  

And, of course, we live in Paradise.  Not everybody gets a chance to do that.  The kids are so overwhelmed with things that they want to do: surfing, snorkeling, hiking, gathering shells, finding coconuts to crack open...the list gets longer everyday.  Well, every weekend is a vacation in Maui, so we don't need to rush!

But just what is the price of paradise?  I'll let you know when I know.