LIHU‘E — “I keep giving, and it keeps coming back,” an elated Michelle Miyake said as she accepted the keys to a new Pontiac G6 Friday from Kuhio Motors sales professional Ames Hartung. Miyake, who grew up in Waimea, explained
LIHU‘E — “I keep giving, and it keeps coming back,” an elated Michelle Miyake said as she accepted the keys to a new Pontiac G6 Friday from Kuhio Motors sales professional Ames Hartung.
Miyake, who grew up in Waimea, explained that she was one of 276 people in the audience of the “Oprah Winfrey Show” who were awarded new cars by the show’s hostess in a random act of kindness no one in the audience knew was going to happen until they opened gift boxes which each contained a car key.
Even Miyake’s getting into the audience that lucky day is part of an incredible story.
After working as a lawyer in Washington, D.C. for 13 years, Miyake decided it was time to come home.
That decision prompted her to sell her car and donate a large part of her personal possessions to The Salvation Army as part of the relocation process.
Using vacation time she had accrued, Miyake started her trek back home, and with just a one-day stop in Chi-cago managed to get tickets for the show.
“I had just sold my car,” Miyake said. “And, I gave away a lot of my stuff to The Salvation Army. It was as if God knew.”
Miyake returned home to Kaua‘i in mid-September and, since then, has been looking for a location to set up her legal office.
Her specialties include real estate, CPR (condominium property regime) properties, estate planning, and veter-ans law.
“I have a few clients since I got home,” she said.
“But now, I can go out and look for a space for my of-fice,” she said as she tried out one of the features of the new car — starting the engine from a remote location outside the car.
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@pulitzer.net.
