The man who grew up in landlocked Lincoln is laid back about all that hot lava spreading a fiery carpet on the southern end of the Big Island.
So, it seems, are most of Tom Bliss’ Hawaiian neighbors.
“I’m very aloha,†said the aptly named former Nebraskan. “Over on our side of the island, the neighbors said the bigger earthquakes shook some pictures on the walls. That’s about it.â€
As for aloha, he kindly explains, it’s an attitude, a way of living gently.
“Being aloha is being chill. It takes a while to develop and learn it.â€
It’s one of the things that attracted the 58-year-old to the tropical paradise that has been making headlines since April 30.
In the four weeks since the Kilauea volcano started stirring, worried travelers have canceled vacations.
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The nightly news has sparkled with video of the lava that has taken out 44 homes, closed a national park and caused injuries (but no deaths) to those who got too close.
Bliss and his wife, Shelley, haven’t been close.
The couple are not technically living on the island yet. Instead, they’re splitting their time between the Bay area — where they reside on a 50-foot power boat — and their new place in Honokaa.
And even if they were in their island home, they’d be more than 80 miles from the action, says Bliss, who is by now accustomed to assuring worried friends and family he's safe.
I can hardly miss the volcanic eruptions in the news. And I haven't seen any news from you in awhile. You OK?!
Tom, Hope you’re alright! That volcano looks big!
Bliss tells them what he tells me: The island is big. Almost the size of Connecticut. It’s 4,000 square miles, and 10 square miles are in the volcano’s path. Media coverage makes the angry volcano seem bigger and badder than it is.
And this: They’re accustomed to volcanoes in Hawaii.
“People here are used to tsunamis and hurricanes and torrential rain, too,†he said. “Just like in Lincoln, we grew up with the threat of tornadoes. You get used to it.â€
There is some “vog,†he says, explaining another new word to a non-islander. (Vog = volcanic fog.) Some of it is causing a heavy, yellow blanket in the air that is a concern for people with asthma and other breathing problems.
There have been worries — unfounded for now — about acid rain, too.
And he feels terrible about the troubles Kilauea is causing, the people who have lost homes, the man whose leg was shattered by lava splatter.
“Even that guy is laying in bed, saying, ‘If you have to chop my leg off, it’s OK, I’m fine.’ That’s the people here.â€
Bliss is long gone from Lincoln. He graduated from Lincoln High in 1978 and joined the Navy two years later. He’s worked as a surgeon’s assistant for 35 years. He and Shelley — who grew up in Johnson — have one grown daughter and a new grandbaby.
“I’d never seen the ocean before I joined the Navy. But I watched a lot of pirate movies.â€
He figures water was in his blood from the beginning. He has a passion for sailing and for years ran a marine recycling business alongside his day job.
And for the past few years, the Big Island has been calling.
Cheap flights to Hawaii from California meant Bliss had vacationed there. Then friends moved to the Big Island and they went to visit.
“We loved the water there and home prices there are cheaper than in the Bay Area, so we pulled the plug on our home here.â€
Equity in hand, they found a house on 5 acres with a horizon view of the Pacific.
It’s not big, Bliss says. But there’s a lanai (island talk for porch) and 33 varieties of fruit trees and neighbors who share their outlook.
“We found the people there, they actually reminded us of Lincoln. The kind of people who would come over and bring you a pie.â€
So in a little more than a year, Tom and Shelley — and the cat — will pack up and leave the boat in Alameda.
They want to live off the grid, grow their own food, go solar, be in the water.
The man from Lincoln has zero regrets about the move.
As for the rest of us, Bliss has some advice: Don’t worry about the Big Island so much.
Come visit.
“Get rid of the ‘Madland’ attitude,†he says.
Get aloha.