(*Note to reader: Hawaiian spellings are in their island form, not mainland convention.)
Most of my flight…I slept. It’s a six- to eight-hour flight to Hawai’I from San Francisco. I was going to the island of O’ahu, Honolulu to be exact, and from there I would be taking a nice long drive to Laie on the east shore of the island, or as the locals call it, the “windward side.”
All of O’ahu is filled with natural, historical and cultural wonders, such as the Pali Lookout, with its spectacular views of the windward side; Iolani Palace; Punchbowl National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific; Waikiki, which is down south near Diamond Head; Pearl Harbor; the pineapple fields; the north shore with its world-famous surfing sites — Waimea Bay, Sunset Beach, and Pipeline. It’s heaven on Earth; beautiful sites and beautiful people. Who could ask for more?
 O’ahu has been the dominant hub of all the Hawaiian islands ever since King Kamehameha himself moved his capital to Honolulu almost 200 years ago. O’ahu is a beautiful, vibrant place with more than 70 percent of Hawaii’s population, and yet the people still maintain the same aloha spirit found throughout all the islands.
I’ve spent much of my 20 years listening to the sweet sound of the ocean’s symphony from the shores of Laie. Since I was just a baby, I would come to visit my Aunty Paleka Leina'ala for weeks at a time. I couldn’t wait to see her, her three dogs, Charles, Rocky, and Lu Lu, and of course, the horses! This is where I learned to ride, not only horses, but the cool ocean waves. This is my favorite place on earth. But this visit was not for riding but something else that I hold dear and I learned from my Aunty Lee: hula.
This April 2001, I was spending my days and nights in Laie until it was time for the one and only Merry Monarch Festival. Then it would be another trip, but a much shorter one, to the city Hilo on Hawai’i Island.
Laie is about an hour drive from the Honolulu International Airport. We usually drive first to Waikiki, grab some food and then head out on a beautiful stretch of picturesque road. It’s a scenic drive to Laie; you see the simplest yet most entrancing colors: bright reds and greens and deep browns are everywhere you look. The Ko'olau Mountains tower ahead as we got closer to Laie. Right next to it is Kualoa Ranch, where part of Jurassic Park was filmed. It’s always a favorite place to go. There are trails in the area to go horseback riding and four-wheeling.
Today the sun was on its way down and the sky was lighted like a volcano. It was on fire and so was I. I couldn’t wait to  be back with Aunty Lee and her family. The last things I remember on my way was the taxi-van driver singing sweet reggae from the radio, “Drop baby drop baby drop, won’t you drop all your love on me…,” and seeing Chinaman’s Hat. Memories of watching the sunrise and going spear fishing took my mind’s hand and led it for a stroll through a land of memories sweet as coconut water.
“ALOHA seestah Shyama, you come all da way from da mainlan’ n’ now you gonna sleep? You no realize that I be waitin for ya all dis time?” I opened my weary eyes to my Aunty Lee’s gigantic smile. She has those stereotypical “island teeth;” yeah they’re pretty big and they make for my favorite island smile. I jumped out of the van and gave Aunty Lee an enormous hug. I smiled my pineapple smile and I felt the warmth of the islands through my veins.
I got to spend the next several days with my Aunty and I felt so lucky. I was like a keiki, a child who just got her first taste of lava’lava or, as they say on the mainland, Kava root. I was happy and my mind was clear and my body was calmed. I would be helping her with her students, getting them ready for the 38 th Annual Merry Monarch Festival. This Festival is held to honor the best of the best in the hula world. This year we were aiming for the overall win, the Lokalia Montgomery Perpetual Trophy. It signifies the leader not only of all the dancers but also the kumus, or hula teachers, as well.
The first few days we spent surfing and horseback riding. It’s just me and my Aunty Lee in a huge six-bedroom house --  well, she and the three dogs, the only family that lives with her now. The first few days were filled with smiles. Every night it was seafood! I love seafood, especially when it’s fresh. Hawai’i has a smell all its own. The smell of sweet rotting fruit, tropical flowers and the cool, salty ocean breeze, make for a charming and refreshing scent. At night, she and I would climb onto the roof and eat warm macadamia nuts and drink POG: passion fruit, orange, guava juice – freshly made, of course.
I could breathe, and it wasn’t congested San Francisco air. It was a sweet intoxicating air. With each breath I could feel pieces of my heart settling down on the sand.
I kept on breathing.
My Uncle Neel died a few years back. My Aunty Lee taught hula since she was 14; she is what many would call the best of the best. When she met my Uncle Neel they began working on a project to help make Hawai’i sovereign. She stopped doing hula; they both worked from home and began a wonderful life together. When he passed away, Aunty Lee stayed with my family in California for a little while, but soon she came back and she decided that what was best for her was to begin doing hula again. Now she teaches students in towns near Waikiki, Kalihi and Waimanalo. She’s happier now, and I’m happy for her.
Soon we were taking the trip south to start helping the students. I love Waikiki; it’s so busy and full of tourists, bright with confusion and happiness. Everyone is smiling in Hawai’i, at least the tourists are. It’s vacation time, time for once-in-a-lifetime experiences, time for some partying or just some peace of mind. God! I love it!
Over the next few days, Aunty Lee and I got closer. I was older and she felt she could talk to me more. It felt good to tell her about my plans for the future and it felt wonderful to hear that she had some of her own.
Every morning we would eat waffles with strawberries and pineapple, and on the drive down we would sing Bob Marley and Kapena songs. It was wonderful. The warmth of the islands, the love and the relationship I was building with my Aunty made me smile.
As mid-April was arriving, my heart was getting a little anxious, not because of the competition but because I knew I’d be leaving soon. Hawai’i does that to you. You feel like your heart is going to break when it’s time to go. I not only didn’t want to leave the island but I didn’t want to leave my aunt. She wasn’t just my dear Aunty Lee now, she was a friend. During my time with her, we shared tears and laughs that led to belly aches and we shared secrets that not even her siblings or mine knew about.
 This trip to Laie, this trip to Hawai’i, was my favorite and my most memorable. My Aunty Lee and I are still close and we still share a deep bond that I attribute to my trip in the spring of 2001. I was only 17 and yet that is when I turned into a woman, because it is when I met the one woman who could see her heart in mine and mine in hers.
The festival? It was a blast! Two days and nights filled with dancing, singing, food and laughter. I made some great friends and I got some cool stuff: T-shirts, hats, pencils. And my Aunty Lee won the Lokalia Montgomery Perpetual Trophy. I guess it’s cooler than a T-shirt.
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