The First of December
This past Saturday, after 3 intramural softball games, I decided to go for a quick swim at the beach with a few friends. We were hot and tired, and knew splashing in the Pacific would be just the thing to cool us off. As I was playing around in the water, I realized, “It’s December 1st”. Wow…I never thought I’d be in the ocean during the month of December!
And you know what December 1st means….only 24 days until the best holiday of the year! And yes, even though I do live in Hawaii, it’s beginning to look A LOT like Christmas around here. Ashleigh, my roommate, and I have been playing our favorite Christmas carols in the apartment and watching all the holiday movies on TV. (I think I’ve seen Will Ferrell in ‘Elf’ about 5 times now.) We have a tiny Christmas tree perched atop our microwave (how ‘college-student-ish’ is that for ya?!) and two mini stockings lying out.
Besides being close to Christmas, December 1st also means only 11 more days until I begin the long journey back to the mainland for winter break. My flight departs out of Hilo on the 12th and I take the red eye to Maui, then L.A., then Atlanta, and finally arrive in Charlotte the afternoon of the 13th. Even though I’ve been anticipating my return for months, now that it’s finally almost here, I’m getting a little sad. It means I only have one more semester in Hawaii. One more semester with the amazing friends I’ve met out here, and one more semester of this tropical climate and year-round beaching. But we all make compromises in life, right? Give a little here, take some there. And I figure, even though I am going to say goodbye to Hilo forever this May, I look forward to moving back to Gamecock country and the University of South Carolina….a little place I like to call HOME!
Until next time…ALOHA!