Sad...

I'm not built for the heat. 

Which is really weird considering I was born in a desert in the middle of August. 

But I hate the heat and it's not terribly fond of me, I tend to get really nauseated in the heat now. 

We are in a short (hopefully it stays short!) heat wave right now. Will be over 100 for the next couple of days. It was 100 yesterday, 106 today, 104 Tuesday, 100 Wednesday, then all the way down to 90 on Thursday. I keep watching the temps for Sunday because we have a soccer match and I've already had a couple where I spent the first half inside the Key Bank Club with the AC watching on the instadium screens. 

I am just not built for heat. And it's worse now that I'm older. 

When Brent was on Sabbatical last time we went to Maui in September. We normally go in the winter so we can watch whales but Sabbatical lined up to take the trip in September. The locals had always told us that it was pretty much the same weather. Not much difference really. 

They lied. Oh my gosh they lied. It was so hot. And humid. 

Better than a lot of other places, but hot enough we decided to stick with winter trips. 

Though I have to say the one really nice trade off was that the water was super warm. During the winter the water is lovely, but it is a bit chilly first thing in the morning, during the summer it's not. Just wonderfully comfortable. And smooth. And clear. So there was that bonus.

We still decided to not ever vacation there during the summer. 

So even with deciding to take our quick time off trip to Michigan last week we would never have been in Maui during the fires last week. We wouldn't have experienced the fear of watching the wall of flames come toward us. We wouldn't have had to run to the ocean and stay there waiting for a rescue boat. We wouldn't have felt that heat, that terror, that loss. 

Even so we are shattered. Just devastated. Seeing places we go practically every year as piles of ash. Knowing that just a block off of the marina are houses. Lots of houses. Whole neighborhoods of locals. And housing is hard to come by in Maui. It's expensive. Locals have a really hard time managing as it is. See, I don't know if you know this or not, but often times people with money are assholes.They come in and buy the smaller houses near the beach and rent them out as AirBnBs. Or leave them empty when they aren't using them as vacation homes.

A lot of locals live Up Country, and there were fires there too. Houses lost. And a house Up Country can house multiple people. Because it's what a lot of the young people who work in Maui can afford. Five or six of them living in one small place. Just someplace to sleep and shower. 

When we visit we always try to make sure we spend money with locals. And that we tip well. We know we are the visitors, the intruders in their lives. And we are grateful to be welcomed. And we try very hard to show that gratitude. 

We aren't assholes. 

We've donated directly to one of the companies we always do business with. They've been running rescue and relief operations since the fire started. The owners lost their house. Quite a few of the crew lost their houses as well. And yet they keep working to help others. The first night of the fires they pulled people from the ocean who had dived in to avoid the flames. Then they spent the next few days running supplies up to Kaanapali by boat for the locals, then picking up tourists and taking them to Makena where they could catch a shuttle bus to the airport. The road between that part of the island and the airport was not accessible for a few days. So to get people off the island they had to be shuttled by boat. To get supplies up to that part of the island it had to be by boat. We have always loved our time with them on the water, and now we have an opportunity to give back a little to them as they give all they have to everyone else. 

We donated to the Maui Strong charity for more general help to more people. They are getting funds out to the community as quickly as possible to help people who need everything. The fire moved too fast for people to grab much of anything. Maybe their phone and the clothes on their backs. Everything else is just gone. They need everything. Money is what we can send easily so we did that. Hopefully there will be supply shipments coming in, and not price gouged, so they can access that and rebuild. 

We have a standing donation to World Central Kitchen and they are there running meals out of the community college. They are always there. There being wherever people need help. That's why we give to them monthly. There is always someplace that someone needs help. 

We don't have masses of money. We aren't the super rich. But we are comfortable enough to be able to vacation in Maui almost every year. Giving back to the community when they need it so desperately is the least we can do to be helpful.

We try really hard not to be assholes.

I'm not sure when we will be back on Maui. They are going to need time and resources to rebuild. They are going to need space to make it happen. But they are also going to need tourist dollars to help fund everything. Because Maui is dependent on tourist money. Unless they find a way, which there are a lot of groups working toward that solution, to make Maui sufficient without the tourists. I'm not sure how the recovery will play out. But we will help how we can. 

Don't be an asshole. It's just a good life motto.