Second Hawaii Story

While I'm talking about the wonderful folks in Hawaii, I want to share another little vignette. For several years in the '80s, I was a runner, jogging 3 miles every morning. It was a good time of day when I could be quiet and contemplative as I jogged around my neighborhood rain or shine. For me, jogging was similar to meditation, or prayer.

Of course, sometimes my thoughts were interrupted by a charging dog who objected to my invasion of his territory, or by a little kid who scoffed at my exercise plan or, once, by a flasher who jumped out of the bushes to show me his woodie. But, most of the time, it was just me and the sound of my footfalls and my breathing.

One of the best things about jogging is that you can do it anywhere. All you really need are comfortable running shoes. I always took my shoes to Hawaii with me and jogged around my parents' neighborhood. The reason for sticking to the sidewalks rather than running on the beach was a little sign on one of the gardens that I loved to visit.

Across the grass from the house ran a hose with a bib on the end and a little, hand-lettered sign that said, "Water for Joggers."  The people in the house actually rigged a water station for strangers who jogged by. I would stop every day and open the bib and drink a little of that sweet Hawaiian water, the purest in the world, and thank them silently for their generosity. I never met them and never needed to - it was enough to know of their kindness.

Only in Hawaii? I have never seen it anywhere else. Have you?