[Image] Photo Credit

This evening I attended a meeting with some of the girls (and a guy) that I grew up with. We met to plan out a fund raising event in honor of a friend, back home, who has battled cancer for the past couple of years. We sat in the room to discuss the execution of our Plate Lunch Sale. The brother of our friend was in attendance and gave us an update of her health. He said that the doctor said that she would only live for possibly another three weeks and that was two weeks ago.

Before I left Hawai'i, I did get a chance to see her. I even sang for her during one of her stays in the hospital. Her sweet spirit filled the room and her gigantic smile -- infectious. I thought about that time while her brother updated us and I could not fight back the tears. He said that his parents are still trying to come to terms with her dying so young yet she has made peace with it. What's sadder is that he has another sister that is in remission from the same cancer.

I really do come from a special place. Even though we're here in Utah, we are ever so mindful of our "sisters" back home. We are sticking together as we have in the past. I feel so fortunate to know that the friendship bonds we created so long ago, even if the only connection is that we're from the same strip of land on the North Shore of O'ahu, binds us together today.

I penned a poem in high school and a dear friend of mine turned it into a song:

It seems we've been friends
Since the beginning of time
There's no place I'd rather be than here with you
We're just like family but more than friends

Lord keep the memories and
Keep our love for each other alive
Life may take us to different places
But love will pull us back together

We have dreams to live and goals to achieve
Love that we'll find and chances we'll take
If anything shall change us
May it be for the better

Lord keep the memories and
Keep our love for each other alive
Life may take us to different places
But love will pull us back together

I can still here the tune in my head. It reminds me of the special place that I come from and all the special bonds that were created in high school; in elementary; in LIFE. No matter where I am in this world, I know that I am not just a face where I come from. People there know me. They know my accomplishments. They know my family. They know which part of the cemetery my family is buried. I am not a number in the crowd there. That's where I'm from. That's where I'd like to move back to one day soon.

Another tribute to Tasha and her battle with cancer, created by women from the same strip of land on the North Shore of O'ahu.... and that's where I'm from!