Reflections

REFLECTIONS

By: Randi Kika Brennon


Well, I heard from my PA'A friend George last night. He's visiting Big Island from Houston, and he and his wife want to get together with the Big Island PA'A crew. Three of us, Linda, Al and myself, are dropping out of our day-to-day realities for a minute and having lunch tomorrow. We're bringing our families so that they can meet everyone, too. I'm excited and so looking forward to it.

It feels like we're finally moving into another phase, another shade of what it means to be a PA'A participant. As a group, we've been through so many phases already. The hopeful task of applying to the program set standards and expectations high. Hearing that we were actually given the opportunity to join this new but mana-ful tradition put in place a bubbling excitement, an eager, disbelieving anticipation. Actually getting on the plane to go to Honolulu brought all the emotions together, making the short jaunt between islands almost surreal. The three days on O'ahu pushed us together, rolled us around and put in place an instant, deep feeling of family, comraderie, us-ness.

Being on Kuaihelani took our group and plunged us to a whole new level of life experience. Our relationships with each other and with the 'aina deepened and strengthened. We pushed ourselves individually and supported each other universally. The group sucked unsuspecting Fish and Wildlife agents (yeah, you Tracey) and Midway workers into our vortex, binding them to us as well. I think we all quickly knew that finding words to do justice to our experience was always going to be a challenge.

Leaving Pihemanu was almost heart-breaking and makes my eyes start and sting even now as I remember that night. My heart was so full with the island, understanding that I was truly bound to the place for life. My mind was numb, not comprehending how we could keep going towards the plane and away from the birds, the ocean, the land. The dark, cold, uncomfortable plane ride back to Honolulu was almost poetic in its contrast to the previous ten days.

We were dropped back into our "regular" lives, some of us taking a few days to readjust, some of us diving immediately into new adventures. For me, the transition took longer than I expected...almost two weeks to feel really back in my skin and functioning. Our group stayed connected through Facebook and email. We shared pictures and thoughts and updates. We began to network and follow up on our ideas to work together as ambassadors for the NWHI. We made plans to see each other when we could.

I think that's the phase we are at now. Our PA'A group is ready to use our experiences over the summer to weave a long future of caring for the NWHI. Out of the blue (of course out of the blue...we're talking Norbert here), I got to see Norbert when he came to Hawai'i Island for a workshop. Seeing him was magical and surreal. How could he be just like he was on Midway Island? As we chatted and caught up, we realized that we have a whole group of mutual friends from years back; now we are bound together in past, present and future. As for the future, Norbert and I will be working together with Jen on a project this year with our students. Jen has graciously agreed to be on the board of the non-profit my husband and I are starting. I see Tanya when we participate in Eyes of the Reef activities. Marion and Tracy have agreed to try to come to Big I to help with a week-long campout with my students. Maya and Sarah are constant sources of good cheer and exciting adventures. Linda and I have a future date to get together for dinner with our families. All of us meet in cyber-space and bounce ideas off each other, introduce each other to new friends, and develop our projects. The enrichment and life-changing experience of participating in PA'A is laying the groundwork for a lifetime of stewardship of our kupuna, the NWHI.

And that brings me back to the phone call from George. We'll get together tomorrow and catch up. We'll share our families with each other, tell stories, take pictures. We'll meet again as the family we are, and we'll move steadily towards our common future. Our whole experience is like the hau that we worked on together on Midway. We have been chosen, just as hau bark is sifted through and chosen. We have been soaked in experience, just as hau is soaked in kai. We were stripped and massaged and molded, laid out in the Kuaihelani sun to mature. Finally we were twisted and bound into the cordage we are now, subtle, strong, beautiful. Tomorrow will be another hau strand, lovingly twisted and woven into the larger cordage that binds us together as Papahanaumokuakea 'Ahahui Alaka'i.