Note – sometimes the period key is working, and sometimes it still isn’t / Sorry for the annoying punctuation;)
It was the spring of 2008. We were living in a luxury apartment on Colorado Blvd in the heart of Pasadena/ A few months earlier, we’d watched the Rose Bowl parade from our own balcony while we ate cinnamon rolls and drank mimosas/ Lance, my then husband, came home from work one night and mentioned that there was a kid coming from Fiji to work at the company – they were hoping someone might be willing to house him/ Interesting thought/ And, really, without much more thought than that, we asked to be the ones.
To better situate the housing to now be for 3, and because we were in the middle of looking to buy a home in the mountains up in Lake Arrowhead, we needed to move into a larger, but cheaper apartment still near the office/ We found one that would work – a crappy 2 bedroom, 2 bath in Burbank down the street from, well, everything.
I can’t remember the exact day I met Dramea, which is odd. He moved into the apartment slightly before us—the company helping set up his room with a bed and desk/ This was later funny because we had absolutely NO other furniture, including in our bedroom, where we, quite literally, slept on side by side air mattresses the entire time we were in the apartment.
This was the perfect setup to meet someone like Dramea who is as unpretentious as they come. He seemed completely content with everything there was and unconcerned with what there wasn’t/ The three of us would gather to watch “the world’s smallest tv” (an old 9 inch tv that my bridesmaids had pooled their money to buy me for my first kitchen at the ranch)/ Eventually, our mountain neighbor connected us with some family members who were getting rid of their couch and suddenly, we were almost like normal people.
Dramea was quickly family to us. We ate all our meals together, took trips together, he’d help walk the dogs, clean/ He found a rugby team to play with and sometimes we got to go watch him play. On weekends, we’d head up to the mountains for fresh air and quiet breezes. We’d sing karaoke with the neighbors or play RockBand until late at night/ At christmas, we bought Dramea a guitar and he’d always have it with him after that – often sitting outside for hours playing and singing quietly/ We took him with us to Christmas with my family in St Louis – he loved the Arch and later named our apartment “The Arch”/ My family adored him, as well – taking him right in as the family member he was/ In the early spring, Lance and I had the opportunity to go to Fiji for 2 weeks – and though Dramea wasn’t able to travel home with us, we were able to visit his village and meet his family/ It was such an honor.
I guess I could describe the entire friendship with him as a honor. He was polite, quiet, good hearted, smart, curious, giving, honorable, and hard working. All the time. We absolutely loved having him as our little brother.
A year into all this awesomeness, Lance suddenly got laid off/ We had to immediately change everything – no longer being able to afford a single residence, much less 2 residences/ We had to give up the apartment first which meant Dramea had to move/ I felt so crushed by all of it/ It felt unfair – like how can something so mean happen when you are trying to do something so good? As it turned out, it was the beginning to the end of a lot of things – but thankfully, not the end of our friendship with Dramea.
We moved to St . Louis for about 8 months before moving back to California in the summer of 2010. Happy to be back near Dramea, we invited him up to visit/ He could ride the train or bus to Oakland and we’d go get him and bring him up to where we were at the time, just outside Napa. That Christmas was our last to spend together – he came up and it was like old times- cooking, playing games, laughing. Shortly after, Dramea went to live in Arizona for about a year/ Shortly after that, Lance and I began crumbling/ We had been living in Santa Cruz at that time and had talked about wanting Dramea to come up and hang out – visit the beaches and maybe even do some surfing We never got that far.
And so, here we are now 7 years later/ Can that be right? Seven years? Everything has changed and I do mean everything, for all of us/ But God is good, all the time, in the exact moment I get another chance to go to Fiji, Dramea happens to be back and in the same city we’ll be stopping in (not on his island, where I visited before)/ I wasn’t sure what he’d think, or if it would be weird for him/ But I reached out and he immediately wrote back!
2 days ago was finally the day! I woke up early because I was so excited/ We had agreed to meet at the movie theater, which meant nothing to me so I was hoping it was obvious when we got off the boat. Sure was! It was literally next door!
We stood waiting, wondering if he’d come walking up, or drive up. And then I heard a familiar voice yell, “Bula Bula!” (hello! In Fijian) I looked and found his face, driving by in his car, waving that he’d circle back/ Oh the joy just to see that smile. I cannot explain it.
We spent the day hanging out. I loved introducing him to Jason, of course/ We drove around and Dramea talked us through life there in Suva/ It’s a big city for Fiji and is most lacking all the elegance and beauty that you think of when thinking of Fiji – but, of course, he knew a spot/ Within a rain forest, down a long path to a glorious blue green pool with a rushing waterfall and a big rope swing/ Pure fun/ Plenty of locals where there taking turns jumping, cheering for each other, sharing a picnic lunch/ It’s so different from what you’d find in the states. Namely, no one was drinking. No one was loud. There wasn’t music blaring. People weren’t swearing They were just talking and laughing and enjoying the nature sights and sounds. It’s so oddly beautiful and hard to put into words.
We ran out of things to see before we ran out of time, so we stopped for lunch at the Contain Yourself Café (made from an old shipping container – what a hoot!) and enjoyed talking some more there/
I feel so proud of Dramea. In a big sister sort of way, I guess. I wouldn’t be shocked if he is one day the prime minister or the head coach of the rugby team, or the owner of a major business. He’s always been good – but he found his voice and now I think he’ll be unstoppable.
What a blessing he’s been to me.
I can’t wait to see him again—maybe in Roatan. Geography is no match for family. We’ll always find a way.
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