Page 8 - MidWeek Kauai - April 28, 2021

8 KAUA‘I MIDWEEK APRIL 28, 2021
Missed Morning Routine
ic-related list, “Best States for Working from Home,” and guess what? Hawai‘i ranked No. 50, just ahead of Alaska. Washington, D.C., was also on the list. Boy, how fun it must have been working in D.C. this past year!
I get up early. The newspa- per gets tossed on our drive- way while it’s still dark. We live on a flag lot at the bot- tom of a long, steep driveway. We can see Sandy Beach from our driveway. In the pre-dawn quiet I often hear the plastic-sheaved paper hitting the concrete. Before COVID, I’d be packing my gym clothes for my morning workout at the Elks Lodge in Waikīkī, prepping for a pre- work sweat as the sun crest- ed the Ko‘olau Range and a line of the new day turned the pewter water of the south shore night into a plate of hammered gold.
Mary would still be sleep- ing when I’ d start my truck and head up the incline on
The criteria included various components labeled under “work environment” and “living environment.” Metrics were weighted, and apparently hallucinogens were also included in the formula, because it’s hard to fathom that a year of quarantining and Zooming here was worse than in 48 other states and D.C. Certain WalletHub puzzle pieces make sense — our lack of quality internet access in too many places, high electrical and internet costs, small home square footage — but the metrics also included a catego- ry for homes with swimming pools, which must’ve been useless during winters in Northern states, unless they were indoors. Wait, pools really matter when analyzing suitable work environments?
though I wasn’t there.
Then COVID hit. The gym closed. Even when it opened with safety precautions, I stayed home. Staying home
The number of persons per household metric surely ding- ed us due to our three or four generation reality, but c’mon. At the end of the day, and I really do mean at the end of the day, would you rather finish your sixth Zoom/zombie call du jour at 5:30 p.m., look up and realize you’re still in Arkansas, Mississippi or Delaware (the three states ranked just above Hawai‘i)? Hard to buy these metrics.
meant staying safe.
But staying safe meant turn-
Hawai‘i ranked dead last (51st) in “living environment,” yet we are No. 1 in longevity (see March 24’s “Think About It”). Of those currently working from home, 54% would like to continue working there after the pandemic ends. Depending on the quality and productivity of their work, some anxious employers may just give certain employees that option, as ex-employees.
Think about it ...
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the Brealist adjusts the sails.” — William Arthur Ward
The coronavirus might have caused a lot of routines to change, like how people exercise, but what shouldn’t change is the love we have for those closest to us.
my way. I’d stop at the top, get out, pick up the paper, and place it on the drive- way wall for Mary to grab when she left for work lat- er. Instead of stopping and getting out, all she had to do was reach through her car window. Every time she put her hand on that newspaper, I was saying “I love you” even
KELLEY
We’re No. 50
efore COVID, I had a routine for telling my wife Mary that I
alletHub comes out with interesting and oc- casionally tantalizing polls about all sorts of things. Two weeks ago, it announced a pandem-
loved her, every morning as I left Hawai‘i Kai for work. I don’t do that anymore. It’s not that COVID made me stop loving her, but things have changed.
ed spending 30 minutes in our garage on a stationary rower pulling 5,000 meters. I started doing body-weight exercise rather than lifting weights. I started soaking my shirt with sweat while watching the sun come out of the edge of the world to silhouette Moloka‘i and to light up the Ka‘iwi Channel. And now, each morning when Mary wakes up, I hand her the newspaper inperson,andIgetakissasI say, “I love you” — the richest adaptation of all.
John Schmidtke is an attor- ney in Honolulu. He received a master’s degree in fine arts from Goddard College.
Chasing The Light is pro- duced by Robin Stephens Rohr and Lynne Johnson.
ing flabby, and turning flabby felt like giving in. We can’t give in. We have to adapt to keep our lives rich. So, I start-
CHASING THE LIGHT
with John Schmidtke
The concept of myriad workers frantically piling into their respective vehicles to fight traffic every day is now history. Seventy-one percent of people who say they could work from home most or all of the time have done so during the pandemic. Does anyone really expect that they’ll all go back to a daily, rote office rat race come 2022?
Yes, we have high costs and crowded quarters here, but Hawai‘i — the second worst state to have quarantined in and worked from home? So, people will continue to visit, but surely opt not to live here. Hmmm. Maybe 50th place isn’t such a bad thing.
john@thinkaboutithawaii.com