The nurse smiled behind his mask and told us that in Hawaiian pidgin there was a phrase "talk story," meaning to talk about life and living, and that he enjoyed our "good talk story." I said yes, I did too and thanked him again for his help with my father. I don’t know for sure if the nurse had heard me, but I appreciate his grace if he had.

Today while I was looking up the term I found the Hawaiian word “wala’au” which can mean smalltalk or "useless" chitchat. But the story here: (https://dapidgin.com/olelo/walaau) hit me, given where we both stood in the Veteran’s hospital. Easy chit-chat and too much smalltalk is the sound that people make when things are going okay. When things go bad, people get quiet. So it’s a good sign if we can talk story instead of worrying about the dire situation around us.

I hope I wasn't being too much of an uptight haole. Thank you for the good talk story.

(2/2) #storytime #story