Pāhonoa te oro

I met Lia when we were kids, back when days felt longer and nothing really ended. She used to sit under this old mango tree behind her house. I noticed her the day I fell out of that same tree trying to look cool. She laughed at me. After that, I just kept showing up. And so did she. We didn’t call it anything—we were just always there. Talking, wasting time, sharing things that felt important back then. I told her I’d leave someday, go somewhere bigger. She told me not to forget her when I