destination: maui?

i started this "secret" blog (which i don't share with friends of family because i'm afraid it will keep me from being honest) in order to keep ourselves focused on our desire to live "deliberately" (or in the words of thoreau, "to live deep and to suck out all the marrow of life, to put to rout all that was not life"). "papa p" has for too long been staring out the window of a corporate law office (an aside: i once had an office colleague who became something of an expert on squirrel behavior because of all the time gazing out the office window, watching life -- specifically rodent life -- unfold).

we've positioned ourselves well for our dream of breaking free-- of burning the khaki pants and ties. for six years, we've been living well below our means. even when we had two full-time salaries, we didn't buy furniture or electronics...when "baby o" was born we didn't buy a house and he sleeps in a second-hand crib. other than traveling and eating well (you gotta suck out the sushi of life too!), we've kept it pretty simple. so we have found ourselves in a place where we can do something unconventional, and where "papa p" can leave his job (he is the main breadwinner by far) and plunge into the wild ocean.

i'm in the process of being interviewed for an english/language arts teaching position at a public school in maui. how i got to this point is a long story. we've decided that if i get the offer, we will go. living on a resort island in the middle of the pacific aint cheap, and a teacher's salary doesn't buy much, but we are blessed to have the savings where we could do this without any financial stress. for now, im just trying to meditate on the important things: will i be an excellent teacher (i don't know, i can only try), and will i enjoy it (student teaching was a mixed experience)? i don't want to spend so much time dreaming about bamboo forests and pineapple trees that i forget the incredible challenge of teaching-- especially teaching underprivileged kids.

i was telling "papa p" that if we get this chance, and if i find teaching to be fulfilling, i could have such a beautiful life that i feel i don't deserve. who should be able to live this way, when people in brazil are living in landfills and people of iraq wake and sleep to the sound of gunfire?