12 days of heather, day 1

i wrote this series remembering my best friend who was making pastries at windows on the world when she was senselessly killed by strangers with hate in their hearts. it’s been 18 years since i’ve seen her face, put my arms around her, eaten a meal she’s made. i wrote this to feel connected to her. i share it so that you might too.

day one
heather LOVED the north shore. on the "road trip" out, we'd blast steve winwood, smoke benson & hedges deluxe ultra light menthols and discuss politics, our teenage crushes, but most importantly, what we were going to eat. a drive out to the country meant we had to stop at the shrimp truck, kua aina, aoki's AND matsumoto's, ted's bakery and the fruit stand for pickled mango. by the time we got to sunset, her favorite beach out there, our opu were so damn big we needed wheelbarrows to get ourselves out to the water's edge. there we'd lay in the velvet sand, slathered in bain de soleil, dozing til we woke up pink and punchy for the long drive home.