The Germans have the word “schadenfreude” to describe a feeling of enjoyment that comes from seeing or hearing about the troubles of other people.

That’s not what Colleen Hanabusa is feeling.

It’s more like Schatzenfreude — the feeling of enjoyment that comes from getting a second chance at the congressional seat she gave up and the opportunity to dog Sen. Brian Schatz in Washington.

Hanabusa was candid in saying she had “mixed feelings” about running for the congressional seat that Mark Takai currently holds. Takai’s illness is her big opportunity, but that’s not how anybody wants to get their chance.

Mark Takai is too young (48), and his kids are too young, to be worrying about all the dire things that loom with a fight against pancreatic cancer.

But political opportunity has a brief shelf life, so Hanabusa looked downright radiant in photos from the Hawaii Democratic convention this weekend, beaming with Schatzenfreude for this windfall do-over.

Hanabusa held the congressional seat representing urban Honolulu from 2011 to 2015. When Sen. Dan Inouye died, she made it known that she was to inherit the seat. But Brian Schatz got the appointment to finish Inouye’s term. She lost in her challenge to Schatz in 2014 in a race so close the candidates were giving out papayas and flying in sign-wavers to the very last precinct.

Takai was elected to the seat Hanabusa gave up to chase her Inouye dream, but was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last fall and recently announced that the cancer had spread and thus he would not be seeking reelection.

That congressional seat had been worn smooth by Neil Abercrombie for nearly 20 years, but ever since he made the unwise choice to leave it and run for governor in 2010, it’s been in a constant state of play with Charles Djou (a Republican!), Hanabusa and Takai each having a turn.

Hanabusa isn’t the only one with mixed emotions.

Voters may be gaining a strong congressional candidate but are losing one of the few people with the experience and political clout to tame the messy Oahu rail project. Hanabusa was named to the HART board last summer, and she brought a keen eye, straight talk and strong hand to a project that always seems to be careening out of control. Her recent appointment to the chairmanship of the board offered hope that the thing could actually hold together long enough to be finished.

Her current term ends this month, and though she’s saying she can legally handle both, we know that’s not realistic. Her focus will be on climbing back up the ladder to her dream rather than looking over the latest reports of cost overruns and ballooning budget projections. Besides, since she passed out those papayas in Pahoa, she has spent every waking minute trying to prove that not only was she the anointed successor, but that she was the better candidate.

Now she can dream about being back in Congress and taking shots at Schatz from closer range.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.