“She’s from the mainland isn’t she?” the woman said as she got into my friend’s truck.  I laughed and she said “I knew you weren’t from here when you said, “hi, I’m Gail and extended your hand” – “ we don’t do that here.”  My good friend PF Bentley was driving me to the tiny island airport and he had stopped to pick up a couple of friends for a meeting they were going to attend after getting me on my way.

Last week, after getting an email from PF alerting me about incredible airfares to Hawaii ($425 roundtrip from Newark to Honolulu), I made an impulse decision, bought a ticket and here I was on the island of Molokai, heading home after 4 days on the island. Some might say, that’s an awful long way to go for such a short time and I suppose that may be true. However it was 4 days that gave me a well needed break, and more importantly a time to step back from the noise of my life and ask myself “have I gotten off purpose?”

The fact is I had gotten way off purpose over the last few months.  I had begun doing things other people wanted me to do and in the process I forgot who I was.  When that happens, everything seems to turn sour and in the process I seem to do more “pushing” my dreams out there, and getting nowhere. Instead I should do what it is I am meant to do, regardless if people accept it or understand it and then things will fall into place as they should.

Over a decade ago, PF had taught me how to tell a story and how to translate that to “film”.  If it weren’t for PF, our film, Opening Our Eyes would not have been possible.  Thirteen years ago, he stirred something inside of me and I went from a state of stale complacency to an awakened spirit.  The spirit had always been inside of me, but I had begun not to listen to it.

It’s been a short but glorious 4 days.  PF and his beautiful wife Amy soothed my soul with humor, color, art, wonderful food and love. Amy is one of the most creative people I have ever met and a true inspiration in many ways. She taught me the ukulele and we played and sang and laughed.  PF taught me new technical skills – color grading and mixing sound, but he also showed me his island home and once again he awakened my spirit.  Mahalo (thank you) Amy for bringing color to my life and thank you PF for once again getting my train back on track.