A long, long time ago, in the last century, in a decade called the 80s, I wrote a play set here in Guam, called Pulani. It was a story about a young Chamorro girl going on a journey. Today’s story is about something that happened while we were putting the play together. 

I have known Carlotta Leon Guerrero since 7th grade. She sat behind me in English class and used to call me Setsuko because I resembled a friend she had by that name in Okinawa where her Air Force father had been stationed.(Her last name, by the way, was Kaneshiro, which is my grandmother's maiden name.) We became the best of friends, going through the trials and tribulations of  junior high and high school. Over the years, we maintained our friendship - we are godmothers to each other's daughters. We caught  up with each other when she visited Honolulu, or I visited Guam. She tells wonderful true stories and her life story could fill a book. This is just one slice of it.