I just wanted to sit down and pay respect to someone I will forever call my friend.
When the Intern and I first moved to Maui, the only people we new were the couple we went over with to help run the bike shop. Now, she and I are not strangers to moving to new places and starting over. In fact, I thought we were pretty much accustomed to doing just that. Until Maui. You see, we here on the Main Land live our lives in the hustle and bustle. Rarely do we sit long enough to reflect on life and the many things we have. Well, at least that’s how we felt once we had lived on the island a while. On Maui, material things are less important but we found out that family was the most important thing of all. Spending time with your friends was considered family time. It was something new for us and something we adjusted to very quickly.
The people of Maui are some of the kindest most generous people I have ever met in my life. We moved to a unfamiliar place with nothing between us and the life we once knew but thousands of miles of ocean. There was one individual that made us feel at ease as soon as we made introductions. We were lucky enough to find this one person who opened his heart and his life to us. He took the time to share with us things most would never get to experience living there. He got us to try different local foods that I still love today. In fact, if you ever get the chance, while on Maui, there is a little gas station in Wailuku that you have to order yourself a grilled peanut butter and guava sandwich. They grill it like a grilled cheese sandwich we know here on the main land and it’s pretty much the bomb.
He had ask me if I wanted him to show me some places on the Island to ride my dirt bike and of course, I’m always up for a new adventure. One little hurdle though. When we move, I had to sell my truck. We had shipped the Interns car and my dirt bike, but I had no way transport my bike around the island. He told me no worries, and that he had a friend with a truck I could borrow at any time.
He even took the time to teach me how to speak a little pigeon so I would fit in better with the locals.
He taught the Intern and I about the importance of family and just being who you say you are. His words have stuck with me even to this day. I will admit I came back to the mainland with a new respect and attitude towards others and life itself. Sometimes our adventures take us to new places where the greatest reward are the people we meet.
Not long after we had move back to the Main land, we got word our friend had passed away. While I believe he left this world too soon, I will tell you he left this world a better place and I am a better person for having known him.
Thank you, David R.
You will never be forgotten.
WE Adventure NW 