The Story of an Island Girl

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Hey guys so I just really wanted to write something real and how I imagine life would be if I lived in Hawaii...idk this is all experimental but this story for sure speaks to me, I love everything about it and I hope that I can really tell it the way I'm imagining it!

Picture of Kailani up top!

Kailani

Aloha! my name is Kailani, I am 16 years old. I've got a younger brother Kainalu and sister Kaile'a who happen to be fraternal twins, age 5.
Notice how our names all start with Kai? In Hawaiian kai means ocean or sea, well my whole family is obsessed with the ocean We're all hardcore surfers and beach bums, even my 5 year old siblings!
Each of our names have a different meaning, Kailani is basically 2 words put together, kai meaning sea and Lani meaning sky or heavens. I like thinking of it as the sea is my heaven.
My brothers name Kainalu means sea wave, nalu can either mean wave or surf, which is pretty cool since like I've said surfing is our favourite past time.
My sisters name Kaile'a means joyful sea, le'a meaning joy, pleasure or happiness.

We were born and raised in Hana, Hawaii but my parents were originally from California. They've known each other since they were born and after finishing high school, at the fragile age of 18, they decided to elope and run away to Hawaii. They had me when they were only 20 years old, some may say that they are crazy, but one thing that has always inspired me is that to this day they have no regrets, obviously there were a few bumps along the way but in the end it all worked out.

So just stop for a minute and imagine that after 16 beautiful years spent exploring and living life to the fullest in Maui, your parents one day decide that it would be a good experience for you to go to a high school in California, the place where they originally had met. daon't get me wrong California sounds amazing and from what I've seen from American movies it looks super fun, but I couldn't help the sadness that filled within me at the news that I would soon be leaving my friends and family, to go live in a city. I am not a city girl, I love my island and I love the idea of just lying around on a beach all day or spending enormous amounts of time in the water surfing the beautiful waves that Hana has to offer, so you see my dilemma? This for sure is going to be a test and in no way do I think it will be an easy one, after all you can take the girl away from the island but you can't take the island out of the girl.

My parents told me they're amazing idea on the day of my birthday, July 1, they said it was their birthday present to me, that I would get to experience another way of life. I'm grateful for it, of course, but still I can't help the feeling that maybe I don't need this experience, I'd rather just stay here.

It is now August 31st and my plane flight is tomorrow, the 1st of September, I will be going to live with my aunt and cousins who have come and visited us every single spring. I get along well with them so at least there's that. My family decided that I should leave exactly one week before school started so that I would be able to settle in with everything. I'm kind of nervous of meeting my grandparents, they've sent me letters and birthday presents but I've never actually met them.

Till tomorrow I still have a couple more hours left on my beautiful island, most of which I've decided to spend on the beach staring out at the waves with my surfboard beside me. It's 10 am, not a lot of people are out yet, I've been sitting here since 6 AM watching the ocean. The waves are beautiful and not a lot of surfers are out today which is also nice. As my eyes look over the beautiful blue and green of the waves I just want to sit here forever, I want this picture to never leave my mind, I want it to be engrained into the back of my eyes so that whenever I close them this is all I see.