I ran 5 miles in Waikele, Oahu, Hawaii on Monday October 29, 2018 at about 2:00 P.M. I ran up the hill to the upper part of Waikele. At the top, I smiled and waved to a female professional groundskeeper who was working on the front area of a house on the main street with her co-workers, a man and another woman. Their white van was parked on the driveway that stuck out onto the sidewalk. A little surprised, her serious face turned into a smile, and she waved back.
When I reached the house again on my second lap, I had slowed down into a walk, resulting from me being out of shape and the heat from the intense humidity. The same lady went out of the way to meet me on the street. “Did you run around? she asked with a beaming smile.
“Yes,” I answered.
“How many miles is it?”
“It’s about 2 miles.” The neighborhood block contains several planned communities within Waikele and about 40% of the Waikele Premium Outlets, which is about 2.5 miles to go around.
“Have a good one!” she cheered.
“Thank you!” Her happy energy pumped me up to get back into a run.
I stopped by the Waikele Community Park to drink water from a water faucet near the swimming pool. As I walked out into the parking lot, I saw the lady again in the driver seat of a the white van with her colleagues inside. They were parked in a stall near the grass of the park.
Upon eye contact, we enthusiastically waved at each other with laughter.
I put my hand by my mouth like it was half of a megaphone. “I’m following you!” I joked.
She laughed and made a running motion with her arms and upper body. “I want to run like you,” she said.
“Have a good day!” I told her. Happy, I was again motivated to run the last part of the way home.
This was one of only three people I spoke to that day and it made my day!
When I got home, I was even more happier when I found out entrepreneur James Altucher liked one of my haiku pictures I posted about going within ourselves to build, explore, and create. Plus, earlier that day, a business partner of mine from Kona, Hawaii emailed my a nice message, following up on a great meeting we had last Thursday at Starbucks in Waikele. All this positive energy is motivating me to finish my 3rd edits/4th draft of my 2nd novel, a historical, suspense, and romance based in Baghdad, Iraq during the U.S. occupation.
Everyday we can spread love through a smile!
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JON RIKI KARAMATSU 