Connections

It's so nice to go to my small Kurtistown Post Office, have Alton, the Post Master, give me a smile, go to the back and get my mail without even asking my name.  There is a one year wait on PO Boxes in Kurtistown and so our mail gets sent to General Delivery.  It basically means that I have to check the mail during regular business hours, 9:00am to 4:00pm M-F and 9:00am to 12:00 noon on Saturday.  I was told that I could apply for a PO Box in the next town over, but I actually kind of like going in and having contact with the postal people.  I also like our mailing address--General Delivery, Kurtistown HI 96760---so simple.

As most of the people who know me will acknowledge, I am not a very sociable person.  I really much prefer to be alone and to be quiet.  So it is interesting to me that I actually like the kind of social relations that develop from living in a small rural area.  I like going to Abundant Life Health Food Store and the clerks recognize me.  They ask about Kim and Bodhi and how things are going out on the land.  The wait staff at most of the restaurants we go to all greet us with a real genuine feeling of good to see you again and already have a sense of how and what we will order.

When we lived in Honolulu there was a certain anonymity that I enjoyed as well.  Whenever Kim and I would go to the mall, I would marvel at how many people were there and that I did not recognize one face.  We lived in the same place for seven years and did not really know our neighbors.  We would drive home, park the car in the garage and do our own thing.  Our neighbors' homes were only about 25 yards away from us and yet we were strangers.  Our social responsibility surrounded around our work community and other organizations we belonged to.  I truly appreciated those relationships.  They helped create a basic feeling of being connected.  As much of a hermit as I claim to be, I do really need social connections with other people.

Now, out on the land, our nearest neighbor is about a mile away.  I picked him and his wife up from the airport the other day and stayed at their place for a bit to chat.  I think there is an understanding that we live in a remote area and need to stay connected.   We are to each other the police department, fire department, ambulance service, taxi service and general store.  We hardly see our neighbors out here like we would see our neighbors in Honolulu, but we know they are there and they know we are here and that is reassuring.


The other day, I was driving to pick Bodhi up from school.  It was a little overcast and some light sprinkles were coming down on the front windshield.  I had the wipers set on interval and they cleared the rain at a regular pace.  I came to an intersection where I needed to make a right turn.  To my right, at the other stop of the intersection was a red truck needing to make a left turn.  Just as I was about to make the right turn, my wipers swept the window so that I could clearly see the driver of the truck.  He was a man in his late fifties and his mouth was moving to the same song on the radio that I was singing in my car.  We caught eyes as we both sang, "OOOOHHH Baby I love your way!  Everyday."  We smiled at each other as I made my right turn and he made his left.

Peter Frampton is alive and well, and so are human connections.