I have to write a Thank you note.

I have to write a Thank You note.  

I get to write a Thank You note.

 It is my privilege and honor to write a Thank You note.

I haven't written very much about my huaka'i on my blog. I have plenty of lines of prose tucked away in a folder on my desktop, mostly my top-line thoughts of the day that I'd scribble out each night when we'd get back to our hotel room, hoping that what I was writing would jog my memory when I had more time to sit down and write properly. I also have a half-written missive to my Kumu, my mana'o about our trip and my personal experience. I haven't finished any of it. Each time I try, I just can't seem to get it right, to be able to convey what an amazing time I had, what it meant to me to be able to go on this trip, and what we did that was so amazing. I don't know how to make people who weren't there understand why we did what we did and why it was so meaningful.

One of the places we went to was the estate of one of my Kumu's closest friends. It was a honor to be able to meet someone who knows Kumu as a person, and not Kumu the teacher.  We don't see that side of him often.

From her backyard, she had an amazing view of Olomana. In her backyard we had lunch, played a scavenger hunt and made up hula dances (my group came in 2nd, yay), all under the beautiful shadow of Olomana. And when we were done, just when the sun was at its hottest, we were treated to the best of all Hawaiian treats - Shave ice. Yes, a shave ice truck showed up and added the "and bag of chips" to the "all that" we had already experienced.

The last week at hula class Kumu listed all the places we visited. A group of us volunteered to write thank you notes on behalf of the class. I volunteered to write the note to the woman and her family who opened their home to us for the day. I felt compelled to be the one to write this particular thank you note. She and her husband came to our closing dinner a week after our visit to her house. We had a great conversation that was inspiring; I'm so honored to have gotten to know her.  I hope what I write in the thank you note to her and her family conveys to them the impression she left on me.