04-24-2010, 03:09 PM
As the one who mentioned the "Island chooses her children" phenomenon, let me "de-woowoo" it a bit. Due to its isolation, the Island forces us to decide what's important in our life, because whatever we want is either here or it's not. If you live on the mainland and you have a hankering for something (be it a material object, 3-D movies, specific restaurants, etc.) you can generally scratch the itch with a reasonable degree of effort. That's frequently not the case here. So if Chris's son is a "stuff" type person or a guy who depends on external services for his well being and happiness, he might not like it here. I suspect, for many who leave, that is there motivation - in their estimation, Hawaii is too close to an underdeveloped country for their liking. On the other hand, for many of us there is a certain freedom that comes from the realization that we really don't need as much "stuff" as we thought we did on the mainland. Yes, I do miss my In 'n Out Burgers and many other of life's divine pleasures, but I'll gladly put up with the deprivation in exchange for the friendships and amazing sights, sounds and experiences that Hawaii offers.