Rain.
So, much, rain.
We were on a multi-day downpour in early February this year. I’d cocooned myself inside, grateful to be wrapped up in the warm, but also itching to emerge.
I stood at the back door in stillness, late morning. A break from the computer screen and the sky’s cries. A slight smile from the sun. The ground sopping wet.
The urge to step out was subtle.
Less like a push from behind. More like an invitation from a tender touch on my shoulder.
Excuses were the lead in my feet. Shoes are at the front door. I’m wearing socks. I’ll have to take them off and then dry my soaked toes before coming back in. It’s cold.
Enough.
Turned up volume on the incessant chatter made me reach for the power button. Push it off.
The quiet whispers. Those carry the messages I yearn for.
Island life
In November 2006, my mom and I traveled to Guam for a two-week visit.
My sister had moved there for a bit, and her parting gift after our stay was a burned CD with all the island music she’d introduced me to. The CD is somewhere, but I long ago lost the player.
Since the life shift, I’ve found myself gravitating to a reggae hits station on Pandora. It quickly helps widen my window of wellbeing.
Often, a Guam-time-song will come on and it brings me back. To so many beautiful moments from our trip, that wouldn’t have ever come into being without the moment I watched my sister stand on an airport escalator taking her up to the unknown.
Burned in my memory, both bravery and trepidation on her face.
“You can always come home,” I’d said.
In time I would see she was on a journey to find home within herself.
Back to the backyard
“Just stepped out back,” I journaled, February 3, 2025. “Wasn’t going to—it’s chilly and wet. But I do. Cross step a little—and hear someone singing. I know the lyrics.”
I scooted inside before the words escaped me, a slippery trail in my wake.
And Googled something like “song, right mood, driving, windows down, hometown, vibing.”
He was singing Guava Lane by Iration, a five-piece band of Hawaiian-bred musicians. One of the ones that when it comes on, my body starts to move on its own.
And just like that, I was dancing in the rain, to a melodic reminder to “find what is real inside.”
> A liminal flicker: Tune in, and listen. Like, really, listen. First inside, then outside. You may be surprised by what you hear in both worlds.
Iration’s Guava Lane lyrics for easy reading
Woah, woah, woah
Island grooves
We were in the right mood and driving
Windows down, rolling through the hometown
Just vibing
Sun is going down and we're rolling one up
Gotta gleam in my eye and got nothing but love
Island grooves, we had nothing to lose, oh no
Oh, we were young and we were bold
Never doing what you're told
We forget about the bad times
And reminisce about the good times
Let's take it back, take it back down Guava Lane
Sitting in the bed of a truck in the pouring rain
The boys have got the bottles and the girls have got the green
We were feeling good and living life just like a dream
Let's take it back, take it back down Guava Lane
Whoa, whoa, whoa
I'm in the cool night air
And I'm listening to Gregory Isaacs
Said I'm chilling right there with a spliff in my hand just styling
We were at the party everybody having fun
Blue lights flashing and we started to run
That's where we go when we go back to Guava Lane
Oh, we were young and we were bold
Never doing what you're told
We forget about the bad times
And reminisce about the good times
Let's take it back, take it back down Guava Lane
Sitting in the bed of a truck in the pouring rain
The boys have got the bottles and the girls have got the green
We were feeling good and living life just like a dream
Let's take it back, take it back down Guava Lane
Whoa, whoa, whoa
So many times you
So wrapped up in what you're tied to
Get caught up in what you're trying to do
Time keeps slipping away
Feeling out of touch
Go back in your mind, it don't take much
Don't deny what you feel
You'll find what is real inside
Let's take it back, take it back down Guava Lane
Sitting in the bed of a truck in the pouring rain
The boys have got the bottles and the girls have got the green
Feeling good, living a dream
Let's take it back, take it back, let's take it back
Back down Guava Lane
e ola i kou ola maikaʻi loa🤙🏼
Take me back … 🥰