The Heart Behind Aloha Coastal Life Solutions
My journey into senior move management began through the deeply personal experience of helping my mother navigate an emotional and challenging life transition.
When Life Changes Direction
After 36 years of happily working for an insurance company in California, my position was relocated to another state. I chose not to move and transitioned into a remote business analyst role with another company. Four years later, that job was also relocated.
Looking back, I can see these back-to-back changes were not a coincidence. They were the beginning of a much bigger shift in my life.
As all of this was unfolding, life was changing in other ways as well. While working in the remote business analyst role, my husband and I were planning our relocation to South Carolina. My mother was planning to stay in California near the grandchildren.
My Mother's New Chapter
Around this same time, my widowed mother began experiencing memory challenges and increasing difficulties with driving. After medical evaluations, it was determined she should no longer be behind the wheel.
My mom was Hawaiian, raised on Molokai, and her culture was a huge part of her identity. She was deeply connected to her hula and ukulele communities. Losing her ability to drive meant losing her independence and access to the social circles that brought her joy, friendship, and purpose.
With this change in circumstance, she decided to move to South Carolina with us. Her one condition was that she wanted to continue living alone.
Without a driver's license, and with both my husband and me working full-time, we agreed to find a place where she would not feel isolated and could still maintain a strong sense of independence.
Finding the Right Place
In April 2024, I arranged a week-long trip for the two of us to tour eight senior living communities. Together, we found the perfect place: a beautiful community offering activities, meals, transportation, social events, and a cozy 900-square-foot apartment.
Then came the hard part.
We returned to California to begin downsizing and packing her two-story, 3,200-square-foot home into what would fit in a 900-square-foot one-bedroom apartment.
Sorting Through a Lifetime of Memories
As her only child, it was just the two of us working through a lifetime of belongings.
She had to decide what she wanted to take, which was often the most emotional part of the journey. Once we determined what was going with her, we began sorting, selling, donating, giving away, and discarding.
Coordinating pickups, drop-offs, and disposal was time-consuming and overwhelming, especially while I was still working full-time.
A Transition Worth Every Effort
We moved her into her new South Carolina apartment later that summer.
Seeing her happy, comfortable, and surrounded by community made every exhausting moment worth it. My husband and I completed our own relocation shortly afterward.
Not long after settling into our new lives, my mother passed away unexpectedly due to complications from surgery.
Losing her was heartbreaking, and it made the journey we had taken together even more meaningful.
The Inspiration Behind Aloha Coastal Life Solutions
The entire experience changed me.
Four months after my mother's passing, my remote role was called back to the office. Relocating again was not the plan for me. After 40 years in the corporate world, I knew it was time to follow the path God had been placing in front of me, one that was personal, purposeful, and rooted in helping others.
That calling inspired me to start Aloha Coastal Life Solutions LLC, a senior move management and home organization company offering compassionate guidance to older adults, families, and individuals as they navigate life's next chapter.
This work is emotional, rewarding, and deeply important, and I am honored to help others through the same journey my mother and I walked together.