By Jill Steele
Author "Blood on the Orchids"
Yesterday I was in Hilo promoting my book and while I’d been reluctant to leave my Kapoho home, fearing the unknown, I was happy I didn’t cancel because it was fun and I needed the distraction. Honestly, it was like a mini vacation.
We were shaken awake last night just past midnight by the biggest earthquake we've felt thus far. Happy Mother’s Day! I was scared awake and in a moment of weakness thought, “I want to get away from all of this.” I shouted for my husband across the hall. He’d fallen asleep watching a show and his reassuring words and calming presence helped me relax enough to sleep.
My husband has made this Mother’s Day an adventure. This morning we rode mountain bikes along Highway 137 to a place halfway between “4 Corners” and Pohoiki Beach Park where people have lately been stopping to view the lava plumes. Large trucks filled with manure and packing foam from the evacuating papaya and orchid farms whooshed past us, forcing us to the extreme sides of the road. We saw that the eruption is much closer than a few days ago and we heard the explosions of lava!
This is what is happening in our neighborhood right now: Former politically opposed members of our community road association are now working together to solve our water shortage problem. People are using our community blog to communicate and it is serving to placate fear. We now know who is left and there are not many of us, but we have put aside our differences to offer help to each other should the need arise.
We noticed our Hawaiian neighbors made an offering for Pele of ti leaves and alcohol on their property and today we did the same. We texted one of them a picture to make sure we were doing it properly and she said,”Remove the red ti leaves, use only green and sprinkle Hawaiian salt all around.”
I am grateful to my husband for giving me a memorable adventure this Mother’s Day, which also included stand up paddle boarding, dog walking and pancakes with strawberries. My kids are absent and yes, I’ve missed them today but I feel good knowing they are safe, happy and relatively stress free now that finals are over. Their phone calls and posts on social media have made me feel cherished and that is what this day is about, gratitude for our mothers. I’ve felt my own mother is smiling down on me all day today. For her the glass was always half full and that is what I am going for right now.
Kapoho, we are staying.
By Jill Steele
Author "Blood on the Orchids"
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