464 Wainee St, "Haole Camp"

my childhood home.

I know we will rebuild but it’s the sentimental memories that was made at this residence & neighborhood that breaks my heart.

we had two dwarf coconut trees that my great grandpa planted in the front from when he worked in the sugarcane fields and 3 big, beautiful mango trees in the back. Seven, our family dog of 13 years is buried there.

I use played in the backyard and with the water hose and make the ground so muddy, I would trek my mud prints all over the garage. I remember waking up early in the morning to see freshly baked rolls that my grandma had made before leaving for her royal Lahaina job.

one of my favorite core memories is waking up on my birthday, my mom walking me to the round kitchen table, and she had a roll with a candle in it and sang me a happy birthday.

or that onetime I had stayed out passed the streetlights and my mom was so mad that she had used her famous phrase “don’t make me tell your dad” and I was scared shitless. never did that again.

we rode our bikes around the neighborhood and had terrorized a few houses by taking their mangos. saved every coin and walk down to the mango stand to get all the after-school treats.

to playing football in the street and baseball in the empty lot across the street.

so many memories.

I was raised here along with my brothers. & I was just about to make the cottage a home for my daughters and I after moving in last December.

TRUTHFULLY, I am having a really hard time grasping this and I’m ooookay. *sigh

AND I know there’s no timeline on when I should stop feeling this way. this was my home, my safe haven from the outside world. LAHAINA will always have my heart.

BUT WE as a family & commUNITY will bounce back. WE must stay positive. WE will mourn the loved ones we loss but never forget them.

WE ARE LAHAINA STRONG.

The Comeback is Greater than the Setback.

#lahainastrong #comebackgreaterrhanthesetback