Aloha and Mahalo

When someone is promoted or retires from the military, they often host their own party. In Hawaii, whether someone is military or not and leaving the island, often they throw an Aloha and Mahalo party, meaning, a goodbye and thank you party. Guests wear aloha wear (Hawaiian shirts for men, and patterns for women). Those departing are honored with leis from multiple guests.

This night was a multiple family celebration. Twenty years ago, M graduated from the Naval Academy. That same day, he married his wife. Now, he is retiring from the military, celebrating his 20th wedding anniversary, and two of his children will finish high school this week. His retirement ceremony was part of the party. As he said, that was only part of the celebration. He then called up two of his children. His daughter who is graduating has been our long time babysitter. It is no secret that we are her favorite family that she babysits for at church. When her parents announced they were retiring on the mainland and not in Hawaii, she said, "Fine! I'll just move in with the Farmers!" Our kids love her and her siblings. We are sad to see them go. Not only did she sit for my kids, she painted my walls while they were sleeping. Some days she cleaned my blinds, and other days my kitchen. She spent the night so we could run in the Great Aloha Run, and another time so we could get away for my birthday in Waikiki. Her parents, brothers, and sister have such servant hearts. I wonder if someone will say that of all of my children one day. I hope so. On the way to their big celebration, I explained to Son1 that this was the last time he would see her. "Mommy, can I give her a big bear hug?" Now this was my kind of shin dig. It was of the fancy shmancy sorts, but sweetly enough, many families had lots of children. Lots of kids means a lot of self entertainment. We were one of 2 families there with only 2 children. We were still a little skeptical about behavior with all of the presentations, and took a seat at a table away from other folks. Two other couples deemed themselves brave and insisted on sitting with us, anyway. Plus, we all know one another pretty well.Now, just to prove we are good parents, both of my children had virgin pina coladas.
You know how I find things out? Because I ask. These dolphins are made of lard, sculpted by the kitchen staff. Spotlight on carved lard. Don't you love it?And because I love to ask, I got the heads up on the cream Bavarian lilikoi (passion fruit) cheesecake for dessert. If these desserts cost me one larger clothing size when I see my family in a few weeks, I am not going to care. I knew that when I treated myself to seconds!!! But come on. I probably am not going to live in Hawaii forever. Sniff, sniff. When opportunities like this present themselves, I am not vain enough about my body to say no. At least I didn't have the black chocolate forest cake. I left that on my plate.The entertainment was a show called the Polynesian Review. It began with the ancient Hawaiian tradition of blowing conch shells as a greeting. There are so many ethnicities represented in Hawaii. While there are some festivities that are truly Hawaiian, truly local to the islands, there are others that are celebrated because they too have had such a strong local influence. The first dance was Tahitian hula. Hula dances tell stories through the art of dance. Tahitian hula movements are intense, the drums are intense, and the shouts from the dancers are intense. The more the crowd encourages the dancers, the faster their hips swing. I must admit I cracked up at the thought of my friend DP being the only haoule (pronounced how-lee, meaning historically Caucasian, now means anyone not local to Hawaii, and is generally not derogatory) girl in her UH Tahitian dance class. Um, I get what she meant now. My, oh my...Soon things switched up to a more gentle hula that comes from the Hawaiian island of Maui, with gourds and bamboo sticks. This hula was accompanied by ukuleles. Just about the time this Maui hula dance was in full swing, pun intended, we decided to split like bananas. Son2 was giving me the signs that he was feeling the effects of being awake more than two hours past bedtime. We said more alohas and more mahalos and headed home!