How Do I Get to Saipan?

This is a blog to document that process of realizing a dream - in the "persuit of happiness"as it were.

The dream is this: My lady and I move to Saipan to take advantage of superior weather and health options.

Nine months ago I went into ER with congestive heart failure. One of my several Doctors told me that I had two years to live. Ever the witty one, I asked him if I could "get that in writing."

But the truth is that, in so many ways, my life is better now than it ever has been and I . . . well . . . I want to live! I have finally found my true life-mate - she, a young widow, has been with me for 3 years now and we are both happier than we've ever been in our lives.

I am on SSI disability so I get $424 a month. I have been wanting to relocate for several years. Oklahoma weather (hot Summers and cold Winters), high levels of allergens, and several other factors have crippled me both physically and emotionally. The Winter Ice Storm of December 8, 2007 nearly broke me psychologically.

You can read more about that here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-December_2007_North_American_Winter_storms

We spent 7 days without electricity. Fortunately I have a gravity heater so there are no electrical parts - except the thermostat which turns the unit on. I was able to buy some gas pipe at Home Depot (miraculously they were open and running on generator power) and I created a loop bypassing the thermostat. We had heat during that devastating power outage when many people did not.

A friend recently advised me to move to another state (with more extensive disability benefits) so I was perusing the Social Security website when I discovered something unusual. Social Security pays ONLY in the 50 United States - AND one other place - the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Why? As nearly as I can ascertain, the US has only one "Commonwealth" arrangement and that is with the Northern Mariana Islands - the foremost of which is Saipan of WWII lore.

When I was a child my father was with the Corps of Engineers and we went to Okinawa for a year and a half. I loved it there. So for forty some years (since we left there) I have always dreamed of moving to a tropical island. My sole fear was that, with my disability (which prevents me from fully participating in the work force), I would have no way to survive on such an island. I can't tell you how great it was to discover that on the Northern Mariana Islands I could, in deed, survive!

I believe that I will be able to make a better contribution to society in Saipan because the cost of living will be more adequately covered by my SSI check (plus a little part-time work that my lady and I can pick up there).

It will cost us about $4,000 to fly to Saipan so I have my Chevy Tahoe up for sale to cover airline tickets ($3,800 or so for two).

A young man contacted me about buying it but told me that his credit got screwed up when he was deployed to Iraq. His name is Michael and he was deployed with the Oklahoma National Guard (for privacy reasons I will not list his last name herein). His cell phone did not get cancelled upon his departure and another bill did not get payed while he was in Iraq. He is working desperately to fix his credit but he needs a vehicle so that he can work, as well as go back to college part-time, and he currently is enrolled for January.

You would LOVE this kid! He told me, "I'm an adult, I need to take responsibility for my life. And the first thing I need to fix my credit rating." And obviously he knows that he would benefit from getting a college education.

I would like to make a present of the Tahoe to Michael, not as much for his service but just because I liked him, but unfortunately I cannot afford to do that with expensive airline tickets standing between me an my dream to get healthy and out live my two year life expectancy.

I have decided to ask the ebay community to help me out. If enough people can make a small contribution then I can give Michael the Tahoe, I can buy the airline tickets that I need, and a lot of people can feel very good about contributing to a great multi-cause.

more later!

-~wolf