cousins
Whatever the funk was of yesterday, it must have passed or the events of the day had me realize how good things are.
Wes and I drove to Camp Murray to meet everyone and when we got there Auntie "Monju" and Uncle Chuck, their daughter Natalie, Nat's daughter Renee and Renee's daughter along with cousin Sherry who moved here last year and her boyfriend were visiting with cousin Linda and her husband Ralph who are here on their way to Alaska on a cruise--whew!
What I found is my cousins are tight with me! It's the Japanese Aunties and Uncles who say, "oh, you picked up weight since the last time". The comments to me when I arrived were, "wow, 'Ona, you look the same, when will you age?" I have no idea! I'm not a pots and jars person with the cosmetics, I don't wear much make up and don't look into the mirror much worrying about the lines and the wrinkles!
It was so much fun to reminisce. We are all girls not even 4 years apart, yet when we were growing up 3 of us were the older ones and Linda was considered with the "small kids". We talked about that tree us older girls would climb to get away from the younger kids. Eventually they would give up trying to follow us!
Auntie took us to Chinese and the conversation went to the direction of how the veterans of war are not treated very well. My uncle suffers greatly from post-traumatic-stress-syndrome-disorder from Viet Nam and is finally getting help. He told us extremely interesting concepts and things he's learned from others in his therapy group. I remember that for years he would say he cannot talk about the war--no one understands except for those who were there, being ordered to kill women and children and having bloodied buddies die in their arms. These are things they never get over. They asked after my family, and I updated them on my brother Bobby who lives in seclusion in an almost ghost town and suffers from bi-polar disorder, and cannot live what we consider a day to day normal life, waking up in the morning and going to bed at night. We talked about how war has affected his life.
When we started in on kids and grandkids there were many light moments with lots of laughter. Linda gave me some raw fish, macadamia nuts and spam cutters and sushi mold then I got a lesson on how to make double spam musubi by the hundreds in a couple of hours!
All in our 50's us girl cousins have seen a lot of the world, each are physically active, some have been marathon runners, we have been through broken families and severed relationships, we have been molested, beaten, raped, we now share experiences of being mothers and grandmothers, one could never have children because of the beatings yet all are productive and successful people in our own rights. If you have seen The Joy Luck Club, that movie echoes what our mothers have gone through, and the lives that we have led so far. Linda is Korean, Nat is hapa haole, Sherry is the white one and I am the Hawaiian. 3 of the 4 of us graduated from Kamehameha, one had to sever family ties for years, but our group has always been more like sisters than cousins!
It is good to see everyone in happier times, getting older, but still going strong and talking about "retirement"!!
Wes and I drove to Camp Murray to meet everyone and when we got there Auntie "Monju" and Uncle Chuck, their daughter Natalie, Nat's daughter Renee and Renee's daughter along with cousin Sherry who moved here last year and her boyfriend were visiting with cousin Linda and her husband Ralph who are here on their way to Alaska on a cruise--whew!
What I found is my cousins are tight with me! It's the Japanese Aunties and Uncles who say, "oh, you picked up weight since the last time". The comments to me when I arrived were, "wow, 'Ona, you look the same, when will you age?" I have no idea! I'm not a pots and jars person with the cosmetics, I don't wear much make up and don't look into the mirror much worrying about the lines and the wrinkles!
It was so much fun to reminisce. We are all girls not even 4 years apart, yet when we were growing up 3 of us were the older ones and Linda was considered with the "small kids". We talked about that tree us older girls would climb to get away from the younger kids. Eventually they would give up trying to follow us!
Auntie took us to Chinese and the conversation went to the direction of how the veterans of war are not treated very well. My uncle suffers greatly from post-traumatic-stress-syndrome-disorder from Viet Nam and is finally getting help. He told us extremely interesting concepts and things he's learned from others in his therapy group. I remember that for years he would say he cannot talk about the war--no one understands except for those who were there, being ordered to kill women and children and having bloodied buddies die in their arms. These are things they never get over. They asked after my family, and I updated them on my brother Bobby who lives in seclusion in an almost ghost town and suffers from bi-polar disorder, and cannot live what we consider a day to day normal life, waking up in the morning and going to bed at night. We talked about how war has affected his life.
When we started in on kids and grandkids there were many light moments with lots of laughter. Linda gave me some raw fish, macadamia nuts and spam cutters and sushi mold then I got a lesson on how to make double spam musubi by the hundreds in a couple of hours!
All in our 50's us girl cousins have seen a lot of the world, each are physically active, some have been marathon runners, we have been through broken families and severed relationships, we have been molested, beaten, raped, we now share experiences of being mothers and grandmothers, one could never have children because of the beatings yet all are productive and successful people in our own rights. If you have seen The Joy Luck Club, that movie echoes what our mothers have gone through, and the lives that we have led so far. Linda is Korean, Nat is hapa haole, Sherry is the white one and I am the Hawaiian. 3 of the 4 of us graduated from Kamehameha, one had to sever family ties for years, but our group has always been more like sisters than cousins!
It is good to see everyone in happier times, getting older, but still going strong and talking about "retirement"!!
posted by leona at 7:57 PM
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