thought to provoke

last weekend started off like any other. series of random events in no particular. gulping down hot green tea to counteract the furor-driven rantings of my friend's cousin. then saturday happened.

i called a friend to do a not-so-common posting and...well:

K: how did you know i was in town?
Me: what? you're in town?
K: yeah, i just got in. so i guess you didn't hear about popo(grandmother)
Me: No.

anytime someone says "so you didn't hear about," is always a negative event. popo pang, the woman who hanai'd(calabash/adopted) me into her family was on her last limb. she was a giant of a woman at 5 foot nothing. she was the thread who kept the family together and the inspiration behind many of the family's great endeavors. she gained the respect of some of the most influential people not only in hawaii, but in a good part of the continental u.s. the words "honor," "courage" and "virtue" were what she became, not just spoke of.

i was lucky to be considered a "grandkid." and like many of my other fortunes, i never took it seriously. i hardly visited, i never called and worst of all, i never took the time to embrace all the gifts she was willing to offer.

"To our minds, time moves linearly, but to our hearts, time remains a mystery. Time is a gift. Never waste a gift"