aloha

So I went into Paia today.  I know when locals ask me where I live they are like "ah, Haiku-side, ya?" so I'm not sure if Paia-side is right, but maybe? ....Ya?  Anyways, I had several awesome encounters that made me feel so much like I'm in the right place.

1. Paia Pharmacy.  The young woman pharmacist who answered the phone not only remembered me when I walked in, but totally welcomed me.  She gave me her card and was like, I was new a few years ago, if you have any questions at all about anything, totally call me.  How sweet of her, right?

2. Street corner.  The random old dudes who holler at hot young ladies such as myself are even nice here.  Other places you get a lot of "woo-wee!"s and other semi-degrading forms of attempted flattery.  Today, I roll out in my cute little sundress, and I got "You are beautiful!" from a creepy old man.  Okay, maybe I'm stretching for this one, but still, I feel the love.

3. Hana Surf Shop.  At this point I'm laden with way too many groceries for one person to be carrying and am on a quest for a comb.  I end up here (go figure).  Anyways, I shop around for a bit and talk to the woman in the store.  When I'm checking out (new slippers! Those are flip flops for all you mainlanders out there.) we get to talking more and I tell her about what I'm doing.  She was suprised I was new - she told me I acted like I'd been living Maui-side for years (people are chill and nice here - that's a compliment).  

4. Side of the road.  It takes me literally 1 minute to hitch a ride back.  She isn't going as far as I need but she'll drop me where I can get another ride.  We get to talking, and next thing I know she is dropping me off right where I asked - even though she was running late!  Plus, as a lifer on Maui, she had tons of tips for me which she willingly shared.

5. Home, phone is lost.  I realized I totally lost my phone getting out of the car, it must have dropped on the woman's floor.  I call my phone a few hours later, a girl picks up.  Her friend found my phone on the side of the road, they grabbed it and called my mom!  I have lost more phones in my life I can even count, and in the past 6 months I've lost a Palm Pilot phone, digital camera, iPod, plus ran over my iPhone with a car.  Bad luck with electronics - I'm used to it.  I've never had a person find my phone, and return it.  It's like a sign or something!  

All I know is that today, I met some nice people.  Hell yes.