Moloka'i – SarahRuthSeeks

Image taken with another member’s iPhone

Military spouse groups all seem to have book clubs, and KOSC is no exception! The first book was Moloka’i by Alan Brennert. Off of a tip from a fellow spouse, I chose to listen to the audio book because the narrator was native Hawaiian and pronounced a lot of Hawaiian words over the course of the story.

It’s historical fiction and starts around 1890 I believe. It’s a story about a young girl who gets leprosy and her life on the island of Moloka’i suffering the consequences of exile and the disease. I tried to listen on my lunch breaks often, but there are definitely moments I couldn’t stomach eating and listening at the same time; so be forewarned there are some rather gruesome and grotesque bits. I do highly recommend reading it, though!

The military wives were very nice and we talked about a whole ton of things after we talked about the book itself. I sometimes find the chatter can trend too negative for my preference, once we were lost in a spiral of talking about disastrous move stories (someone’s crates got water logged and they essentially lost everything… you can use your imagination to guess about other stories). I remind myself it is reality for some and it doesn’t have to be my reality; in fact our moves have gone surprisingly well all things considered. It’s easy to say “it’s just things” when it hasn’t happened to me, but there’s some truth. Brian and I purposefully don’t have a lot of sentimental value things and have 10 year old furniture aside from a few pieces. Anyway, tangent over, book club was a great time to meet new people. Three(!!) of us were from MA!! The others were from all over. The host is part of a kickball league with some crazy rules and I anticipate going to watch sometime.

Looking forward to seeing what the next book is!

Sunrise 29JUN21

When I got to the end of the beach today and observed the shoreline I noticed patches of gray that were distinctly not clouds. They looked like they could be other islands in the distance… weirdly I haven’t ever noticed them before. I mustered up the confidence to chat with one of the regulars I see, and they were kind enough to point out what I was looking at.

Apparently on clear days you can see to other islands! Maybe I’ve always assumed they were clouds.

I distinctly remember visiting Catalina island and my sister-in-law saying “This is going to be you guys soon, living on an island!” and a quick wave of panic flooded through me as I realized the implications of that statement. However, at the time we were on a tiny island that took twenty minutes to drive to the other side. There were more golf carts than cars. Oahu is certainly a lot bigger and more populous. That being said, sometimes, like when I can see ocean for days and distant small islands, I come to the very clear realization that I am on a tiny plot of land in the middle of a giant ocean and get kinda claustrophobic (that’s the best way I can think to describe it, maybe there’s another word? Like I’m stuck in a small area in the middle of nowhere?). But then I ground myself and bring my thoughts to what my tiny little bubble actually is and that it isn’t entirely different from my old tiny bubble. Gym, work, church, grocery store, husband, friends, even the beach. Some moments it feels really far from things, but most of the time it’s not much different than anywhere else I’ve lived. I don’t think the feeling will ever go away; I more assume it’ll become normal and fleeting.

Brian is working late again tonight, so I’m on my own for dinner. Ice cream?

What I’m “reading” – Moloka’i

Sunrise 29JUN21