How We Roll

Operation Chemo is really beginning to take off, leaving a trail of (if you can believe this) mournful Kalani folk wishing they could come along to Honolulu for the celebration. And what a celebration it’s become. But what else did you expect? This sh*t’s too much fun not to share with everybody, right? Vincenzo came back along as my official chemo chauffer, along with another Kalani friend Sara, a whole foods health specialist. Those of you who remember my adventures into all things raw late last year can appreciate what a heaven-send someone with her expertise, practical sensibility and tongue-in-cheek humor about dieting is for me. Sara came along for moral support, but also to get a better sense of how I’m nutritionally balancing out the side effects of chemo. Back home at Kalani, she’s been helping me create menus and increase natural supplements my body may be lacking right now. Having the pair along, representing my growing Hawaiian support system, made the experience a thousand times easier. Vincenzo works in Europe as a high-end tour guide, so he took special pleasure this time around in arranging everything from our chemo accommodations at a beautiful boutique hotel in Waikiki to a few special dinners with choice friends both from this island and our home island. Lenore, the sweetest guest services assistant any hotel could ask for, presented me with a beautiful lei when I arrived (Vincenzo forewarned them, so I ranked at celebrity status by the time I showed up) and she seemed shocked to see me, tan, strong and with a full head of hair. “You don’t look sick!” She exclaimed and, jokingly, began taking back the lei. I responded, “it’s the new face of chemo. Little more glamorous.”

Her laugh and hearty embrace afterwards reminded me of Hawaii’s seductive character. There is a different way of interacting with people here than anywhere in the United States—perhaps even the world. Every smile, every sensation of warmth is an invitation to enjoy immense pleasure. It comes almost every day here, every hour: a chance to revel in a glistening rainbow—or three, the momentary breaching of a whale that you’d miss if you blinked, the company of new friends while you enjoy a sunset. Life shouts at you. Why survive death if afterwards you don’t enjoy life?! People who seem most comfortable here understand that life just isn’t worth it if you don’t stop and appreciate the beauty right in front of you. Sure, it’s understandable when that beauty so obviously surrounds us here on all sides. But the real secret to this place is that the more you enjoy the beauty around you, the more you realize that this beauty is a direct correlation to the beauty you are allowing yourself to enjoy within. Party on.