Play By Play

I don't usually do one of those kinds of play-by-play blogs in which I bore my audience with my daily routine, but I've just had such a totally awesome weekend, I have to share.  You can bear with me or choose not to read, this one's for me.  For posterity.

The weekend extraordinaire began on Friday when Charlie got home from work and we went out on a lunch date.  We ventured outside our usual Kapahulu domain and made the drive to downtown.  After settling on JJ Dolan's, we sat at the bar, holding hands and talking about random topics-- dancing, the kids, the menu.  And then Richard sat next to me.  Dick appeared to be a man in his late 50s, clad in aloha shirt, bearded, and already intoxicated.  Not sloppy drunk, but inebriated enough to look it, he ordered a Bud Lite that, now that I think of it, I never saw him touch.  He regaled us with his pizza knowledge-- hailing for New York, he said JJ's had the best pizza outside of his hometown.  Dick proceeded to dominate the conversation for the rest of the date, which I tolerated because he wasn't at all belligerent, but mostly seemed lonely and hungry for human connection.  It was lesson learned, however: when on a date, sit at a table!  It wasn't a total loss, though, as we walked through downtown, finished our lunch in the Kumu Kahua Theatre courtyard, and talked about the architecture around us.

That night we walked over to Sheldyn's preschool graduation.  The whole time we were there I kept thinking about when we were there last at Lucy's graduation.  How the banner now read "Class of 2012" and when Lucy made that walk the sign said "2008" and Sheldyn was just a little toddler of a girl.  It makes me happy to be able to participate in these special occasions with my nieces and nephews because it makes me feel closer to them.  It makes me thankful for my life the way it is-- living in Hawai'i and knowing it could all be so very different.

The next day we attended yet another graduation ceremony, this one for my baby sister, Liane.  I was 14 years old when she was born, and when I first moved out into my first apartment, she used to come over and play video games and eat all my snack food.  She used to call me and talk to me about episodes of Blue's Clues, and I would take her swimming at the pool.  And here she was, receiving her undergraduate degree at UH.  If you looked in yesterday's Star-Advertiser, you might have seen her picture, holding up the "Happy Birthday, Mom" sign.  Shelley and I sat with our families up in the nosebleeds in Stan Sheriff, getting all teary-eyed with the thought of our baby sister growing up.

Saturday night we went to Rumours Nightclub to celebrate mom's birthday.  The last time I remember going out all together like this, I was a parent of one child and my youngest brother wasn't even 21 yet. I got just the right amount of drunk to have fun and danced the night away with my dear husband as my partner.  Now, if any of you know me, you know that dancing with a partner is a very rare event in my life. For most of my dancing in public life I've partnered no one save maybe Kafrin, Jenn, or Shani, and we have been ridiculed by the men asking us to dance for turning down their gracious offers.  I have never been interested in dancing with anyone for a variety of reasons, chief among them are that they inevitably turn into something I'm not interested in (grind session, anyone?) or my dancing turns out to be an unpleasant surprise to my partner/my partner's style turns out to be a complete disappointment to me.  I love to dance and the last thing I want to think about is having to pretend to be into the dancing styles of my partner.  But with the chemistry that already exists between me and Charlie, because of the sense of security afforded by our relationship, we were the perfect partners for the evening.  At least I thought so.  It was beautiful and magical and we both couldn't help but notice that everyone in the club was jealous of our skills.

And despite not going to sleep until after 2:30am, Charlie was up before 7am to make my Mother's Day breakfast.  He made a huge feast of pancakes, rice, eggs, Spam, and portuguese sausage, and while I waited for it to be ready, I read (and re-read) the cards they each picked out for me.  The fact that each card I received so well represented the giver touched my heart.  I usually don't care too much for store-bought greeting cards, but I think these were the best gifts I've ever gotten (beating out the nook, even). When we were done eating, we went down to Kapiolani Park and happened to find great parking in an ideal location.  I sat around (bum knee) and enjoyed watching them run up the trees, tumble in the grass, and toss a ball or hacky sack between the three of them until we crossed the street and went swimming.  What a gorgeous day!

This whole weekend was such a battery charger for me, infusing my spirit with laughter and love.  I felt like a queen.  And after having to endure so many weeks of doing doing doing, there was finally time to reconnect with my husband.  What I hadn't realized, either, was that in addition to missing that kind of quality time with Charlie, we also hadn't spent much time with my family like we usually do.  No weekend BBQs or impromptu dinners lately despite the multitude of last minute "Hey, can you watch my kids for a few minutes" days.  (And with that in mind, my glorious weekend actually began on Thursday night when dad, Jonah, and Shelley came over for dinner and we talked and ate together and Charlie and I sang together over the piano.)  With summer right around the corner, I'm excited to see what's coming up :D