Hawaiian family gatherings

are never ending in my family and I've haven't been to one yet that has ever ended before midnight. My cousin Moke had a belated birthday party for two of his daughter's Anastasia and Vanessa (12 & 9) across the bay which my daughter and I looked forward to attending. As with celebrations there were also funerals that we attended for this family. My uncle and my cousin April, who recently passed away from Cancer and left two teenage boys, her husband and two twin girls (6 months old). April was the event planner of the families. She would send out the evites, plan the menu, co-ordinated the jumper, rent the facility or be the first one to secure the best area at a public park. That was April in a nutshell. With all of her love and aloha, she welcomed everyone into her family, no matter what race, color or creed, you were treated as family.
Hawaiian parties never start on time and this was no exception with a 2:00pm start and dinner finally being served a few hours later. The greeting of family and friends are always given in hugs and kisses. Introductions to familiar faces and the memories that we reminisce from past events and families that all brings us closer never losing those ties. Dinner is always excellent and plentiful. Smiles, laughter of children and conversation are the center pieces of my life. Our opu ( stomach) full of food and drink, we enjoy the rest of the night in music. My Aunty Joyce seems happier than usual and is more talkative than combative and she warns me about Mark and keeping him away from my daughter. My Aunt is a fiery red-headed haole (caucasian) woman who in her younger years was a total hottie. Wise in years, she can see everything in it's development and she does not like Mark. As the night starts to fade away and the crowd thins out, we start the task of saying goodbye to all of our family members which usually takes an extra twenty minutes. My cousin reminds me of another party in two weeks for her sister's twin girls and in agreement, I know that I need to be there. Our jaunt across the bay is short as my daughter and I converse about Mark, a long time grade school friend of my cousin Moke and now a single father who has frequented these parties since his teens, who has now taken a liking to my daughter and from what she said, wants to ask me if he could see my daughter. Sounds so old country Filipino, doesn't it? I told my daughter, who doesn't have an interest in him, he's going to have to go through the proper channels, my Aunty Joyce.

Dearest of friends

After a long drive home yesterday from visiting my daughter in Sacramento, I attended a loft party with my group of four very dear friends whom I have known for at least 15 plus years. Cecile's house was the central meeting place with DarRell as the designated driver taking the helm of Sarah's beautiful midnight blue BMW. After a quick snack of homemade chili that Cecile made, we were on the road into The City for "Auntie Ken's" Christmas party.
Traffic moved smoothly and an abundant amount of street parking space was available to us. With presents in hand, we made our way to his live/work loft in which he is an interior designer for his own company. I remember meeting him 10 years ago on a trip to New Orleans for Halloween. He is a flamboyant Hawaiian/Filipino man with dark skin, hair and eyes. His ever infectious laughter and beautiful smile was all he needed to draw you into his circle. Upon entering into his humble abode, we were in awe of his business space. Very simple, yet colorful and practical without an abundance of clutter. It was a warm sensual space with an intimate setting for his friends to enjoy the company of one another without it being overwhelming or isolated. We met Ken's partner, Michael, who is a hula dancer with my former halau. He also stitches Hawaiian quilts one of which he recently sold for $5800.00! The stitch work is meticulously beautiful, mixing old with the new. Not bad for a haole (Caucasian) boy!
The spirit of the evening flowed and ebbed until we had a white elephant gifting which turned out to be a highly charged event and the once serene guests caused a raucous of laughter as each gift turned out to be a coveted prize to possess. Gifts ranging from fine wines, candles and gourmet cook books to liquor candied delicacies . The white elephant gift of the evening turned out to be a cute pink, sequined clutch purse won by a man of stature and being a very good sport about it. With the evening winding down, it was time for us to go as we had another engagement to attend at a Filipino club in South San Francisco called Solita's where our group got our groove on. With DarRell running the show with his sexy muscular body as he glided into the electric slide to Sarah getting freaky with one of our girly table mates. Everyone was on the dance floor, getting sweaty and have a fantastic time. As the band played their last set, Sarah asked me if I was seeing anyone. With her pending divorce on the horizon, my group is very supportive whether you're dating or not and I know she was concerned. With a deep breath, I boldly told her that I am seeing someone and it's someone that is not in our circle of outrigger paddlers or hula dancers. I further explained to Sarah that Lynn is a musician, singer and mother of two daughters. Sarah stated, "As long as you're happy, that's all that matters" and she gave me a big hug. She started saying something about her Catholic school days and girls, but at this time, I think she had too much to drink. Not wanting to go home at 2:00AM, we visited a local casino establishment in the small town of Colma. This place was busy with a large Asian and Filipino community gambling like there's no tomorrow. Our mission was the restaurant, which was just as crowded as we were expeditiously seated in a booth. The menu was a nice variety of Asian and Filipino fare served in ample portions. With our food orders turned in, we chatted about idle topics. Sarah decided to unknowingly Out me in front of Norma, who is the last one in the group to finally find out. "SARAH!", I stated. Kicking her underneath the table. She apologized and started in about my ring being on my left married finger and said, "You're not married and it shouldn't be on that finger". Finally, I couldn't take it, I said, "Norma?" "Yeah", she replied. "I'm seeing someone and you know her", I stated. "Her name is Lynn". "What?" she said, incredulously. "I'm seeing Lynn, who is my partner, my companion, my lover!" I said while searching her face for any eye to eye contact. Her body language started to show how she felt and seemed put off and indignant. Sarah backed me up and basically told Norma to back off and behave. I know that it is a painful issue to process and this is probably how she handles stressful situations. Knowing that I was once a man chasing woman, party hard individual and hearing that I have become someone else without any clues, hint or thoughts, seemed very uncomfortable for her. Oh, the convoluted thoughts that are running rampant in her mind.