Looking Back on "Aloha"

"I am an old woman
Named after my mother
My old man is another
Child that's grown old"  ~ John Prine

I picked up the latest issue of O Magazine today and there they were on its pages, the children of the people of my youth.  All, beautiful, strong, women with a passion for the water, nature and all living on Kauai, my former home.  It brought me back.

I lived on the north shore of Kauai from 1972 to about the mid-1980s.  There was no "Princeville" when I first came to Hanalei as a young teenager.  In fact, it was a luxury just to have a house with electricity back then, let alone a house.  We were a progeny of the sun, the waves and the 60s and these women are the daughters of people that I remember.  I see Holt's daughter in there, as well as BK's... and Hambone's GRANDchildren?  OMG, where has time gone?

One of the women featured had lost an arm to a shark attack, yet still surfs daily.  One was of mixed heritage...glad to see that Hawaii is slowly, but surely, truly becoming the melting pot that it always strived to be.  I smiled to see that one, or two of the young ladies now have bikini labels...carry on.   Perhaps I'll look into offering their lines.  All were so earthy and beautiful. I'm so glad to see them honored in the magazine.

Check out Skip Wright's photo gallery, "Kauai in the 70s,"  http://www.skipwrightphotography.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1024  (No, I'm not in there, but many of our old friends are.)
~ C.