Making some new friends and taking down names
It’s no secret who the master of friend-making is in our family. I’ve watched Kristin walk into situations where I’d be hard-pressed to even make eye contact with another person and she ends up as best buds with half a dozen strangers in less time than it takes me to glance at my phone and pretend I have a pressing email to answer. The woman could strike up a conversation with a fence post and turn it into a lifelong relationship. (A concept that my mother-in-law might suggest as a fitting allegory for our lives together.)
It’s not at all that I don’t like meeting new people; it’s just I’m not very good at it. Kristin can cache a face and name permanently in an instant. I can shake your hand, hear your name and talk to you for 10 minutes, but once we part ways, I won’t remember anything but your story — and I’ll remember every detail of that for the rest of my days. I rationalize this divergence as the difference between a writer’s brain and an artist’s brain. Kristin, however, insists I’m just mentally deficient. This could actually be the case.
Kristin’s keen eye for faces and names made for some delightful moments during our trip to Hawaii, the first of which began with a chance encounter as we embarked on a hike of the Kalalau Trail. A beautiful, challenging and occasionally downright terrifying hike along sheer cliffs that plunge a few thousand feet to the Pacific below, hundreds of people set out on the trail each day — and hundreds turn back at any one of the dozens of scenic overlooks along the way. At an early overlook, Kristin offered to take a snapshot of a young couple and their little girl as they stood against the incredible backdrop. They turned back; we carried on — the end of our moment together.
Three days later on the other side of the island, we pulled into the muddy lot of a small cacao farm where we’d booked a chocolate tour. The first to arrive, we talked to the farmer as the others filed in. A young man walked up to confirm he was in the right place, and Kristin immediately said, “Hey, we met you somewhere!”
He was obviously a little uncomfortable with the claims of this weird woman. I felt his pain. Moments later, however, as his wife and little girl joined him, all doubt was laid to rest.
“The Kalalau Trail!” Kristin shouted. “I snapped your picture at the overlook!”
All was fact, and we quickly bonded as fast friends, learning the ins and outs of chocolate farming together along with another dozen or so folks on the tour. One of the characters was a big fellow in a black Harley shirt named Larry who passed up every single chocolate sample that came his way, explaining he just didn’t like the stuff. (Even I could remember a guy that would pay $100 to tour a chocolate farm and pass on the “all you can eat” sampling at the end.)
Three days later, in yet another entirely different quadrant of the island, Kristin and I emerged from the trailhead after a beautiful but exhausting hourslong hike along the Shipwreck Coast to encounter a car that was just passing on the road. The window rolled down, and a big biker guy said, “Do y’all know where to park for the luau?”
“Hi Larry!” Kristin said. He nearly choked on his chaw.
There are nearly 1 1/2 million visitors to Kauai each year. There are a minimum of 28,000 strangers on the island at any given moment. Still, Kristin finds a way to make it seem like a summer camp where you keep bumping into your new friends all along the way!
Kristin and John Lorson would love to hear from you. Write Drawing Laughter, P.O. Box 170, Fredericksburg, OH 44627, or email John at jlorson@alonovus.com.