Author "Blood on the Orchids"
Owner Hawaiian Magic Tropical Flowers
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| So many beautiful spots gone. |
Everyone in Puna is mourning. We have all lost something. There is a different feeling about Pahoa. People wear it on their faces, you can see the sadness and the sleepless nights in their eyes. At the “Hub”, which is what everyone is calling the intersection of Highway 130 and 132, the road we used to be able to use to drive to our homes in Leilani and Kapoho, there are a lot of nice people, volunteering their time, cooking, sorting and serving. It’s a store where money isn’t a credential and tragedy is.
Some of us are sad for friends. Some of us are sad for our lost surf spots and beaches and some us are refugees. There are two types of refugees. There are the evacuees and there are those who have lost their homes. We have all lost our way of life.
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| The most beautiful tree in Kapoho. |
I spend my days combing the rentals on social media sites, something I never dreamed I’d be doing at this stage of my life, except for helping my kids with their housing needs. I broke down earlier this week after looking at two particularly awful places.
Tackling the insurance claim we need to file is terrifying, so I attended an insurance forum presented by a non profit outfit yesterday. The room was inadequate and people stood outdoors in the rain straining to listen. I found the language and the terms they used confusing. I had to leave after an argument broke out between one of the attendees and a presenter. We deserved better than more drama.
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| Kapoho Bay |
At the Pahoa Community Center there are various organizations such as the Red Cross, Catholic Charities and veteran’s groups. They are fully staffed and seem efficient. They all seem to conduct themselves with the right amount of compassion. It is humanity at it’s best.
I was in Hilo today to picking up a document and found it odd that people were seemingly unaffected. I wondered how life could be going on as normal. Puna is it’s own planet at the moment, an island unto itself so to speak, but we are united in our tragedy.
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