by Kimberly A. Cook (Twitter@ WarriorTales)
We writers never know what story might touch a person or their family. Being interested and curious about people lets us hear all kinds of great and exciting stories, collecting adventures like pirates of old. A recent event reminded me of this treasure trove we take for granted every day.
While visiting the Oregon Shakespearean Festival in Ashland in September 2011, my friend Carol and I hot-footed it over to our favorite restaurant, The Red Hibiscus, for the fabulous chicken teriyaki. We met the chef, owner and veteran Ron Yamaoka and had a great visit. I took pictures and Ron even gave me his recipe!
Read the blog post here. https://kimberlyacook.com/2011/10/25/a-chefs-hawaiian-tale-in-ashland/
This past January I got an email from Ron’s daughter. She told me Ron had passed away in January and a friend sent her my blog post. She had never seen the original post and was surprised and wanted to thank me for the article. I sent her my condolences. I told her I had more photos from that day and asked if she would like to have them. She quickly replied yes.
Sent them off this weekend and got a quick note back from her. The family is preparing for his March service in California and she is collecting photos. She really liked the other pictures of her Dad and the restaurant, even the food. It was a pleasure to send them on to the family.
Ron’s final resting place will eventually be at the Punchbowl National Cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii. I told her I would stop by and say hi to him on my next visit. We go about our writer days finding out about people and having them graciously share their lives with us. What seems an everyday writing occurence to us can impact a loved one or friend much later.
Never forget the power of people and their stories. We are all touched by the smallest ripples in the universe. Keep exploring, writing and collecting stories; they are the tales of our lives.
Leave a Reply