Post Christmas Round Up

Yeah, I know, I know. Zero posts for 2 months, Mai, wtf??? And while I know you all just hang on my every word (insert dripping sarcasm here), I have been somewhat otherwise occupied for the last few months. So here's the roundup for the moment:

• Kids are running around like chicken no more head - and I am chasing them in the same fashion.


• Been crazy busy with work, in a really good way.


• Did some interviews for a show Emme was putting together and because of that got to meet and chat with some really cool people.
  
• Drooling and being gaga over my adorable new nephew, Jeremiah. Amazed by my sister who bore the little guy at 10 pounds, 5 ounces.
  
• Worked on Emme's Christmas show - full of amazing performances by peopple like Na Leo, John Cruz, and the incomparable Uncle Willie K. Cried my eyes out with the beauty of the performances.
  
• Landed my ass in the hopsital with appendicitis of all things - thank God for the teenager and the family and friends who helped out.
  
• Survived Christmas, and am looking forward to the New Year.

That's about it, I guess.

Also, wanted to share my lesson for this year. I am a person who normally pushes for what she wants (those of you who know me know this). This year I learned about - as was said in "Under the Tuscan Sun" - ladybugs. Chasing them around - pushing to catch them - just doesn't work. But sometimes, if you juse lie down and wait, the ladybugs come to you. And honestly, I need to thank my family, especially my husband, for this lesson. Family and spouses are often the best teachers.

There's always more to say - and I will try to say things more frequently.

Peace and joy to everyone now and throughout the new year. May 2010 be your best year yet.

Wondering at nature

I know it has been a long time since I posted, but it's been a busy few weeks. To recap, I spent a week (it was supposed to be 4 days, but it turned into a week) in the Bay Area hanging out with the sister and my brother in law, Unclwe Waynee, not to mention Connie and Ben and their daughter Maggie, and attended my college friend Lan's wedding. It was a busy few days.

But I'm back now, and back at work.

So this wonderment at nature today has a long history. About 10 years ago now (OMG!!), I worked at the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii. I often led hikes in the Waianae Mountains, which I really loved. One of the parts of the hike I truly loved was explaining to my hikers why it was that the Waianae Mountains have such amazing biodiversity. The Waianae Mountains are older than the Koolau range by about million years. So, one side of the Waianae Mountains used to be the Windward side, except as the Koolau Mountains came up, they blocked the rain from reaching the Waianae Mountains. Since the decline of rainfall happened over a long period of time, the species that lived in the Waianae Mountains had time to adapt. So now, the Waianae Mountains are in the rain shadow of the Koolaus - the clouds come in, hit the Koolaus and drop the majority of their rain, and then don't have time to pick up more moisture before they hit the Waianae Range.

Fast forward to today. After a week of a lot of heat and no tradewinds, it finally rained. And, since I work in Kapolei now, I actually got to WATCH the whole rain shadow tale that I have been talking to people about for years. And really, it made me marvel at nature. I mean, Mother Nature can be a stone bitch - witness everything going on in Samoa, the Phillipines, Indonesia, and India. She's unpredictable at best, and overwhelmingly destructive at her worst. And yet, there are these beautiful soft clouds, floating into the Waianae Mountains, not raining on the peaks, but leaving their soft mist behind, feeding the plants and animals that live there. So here was this soft, gentle, almost undescribably Mother Nature, doing her thing.

That's cool.

That was just my thought for today. Wanted to share.

Peter Paul and Mary

Mary Travers died on Spetember 16. She was the Mary of the group Peter, Paul, and Mary. The music of Peter, Paul, and Mary was the soundtrack of the protests against the Vietnam war, the fight for civil rights, the protests against nuclear power, the struggle to free South Africa, and many more protests and acts of social activism.

And my parents raised us listening to their music.

The voice of Mary Travsers was the voice I wanted to be. Singing songs that meant something, that inspired people, that changed the world.

When I heard Mary had died, I felt an immediate need to hear that music again. I finally went out and bought "The Very Best of Peter, Paul and Mary" and have been listening to it almost non-stop ever since. What strikes me most is that the messages are still so relevant, and, especially in my particular situation, absolutely applicable.

"Where Have All the Flowers Gone" got me first. "Where have all the husbands gone? Gone to soldiers every one." All I could think is that the song could have been written this week. Today, By me. From "Cruel War" to "For Baby" to "The Times They Are a Changin" to "Weave Me the Sunshine" there was a message that I heard and that resonated with me.

We're in tough times these days. We're still fighting two wars. The economy is terrible. People are losing jobs and having a really hard time finding new ones. States are having mandatory furlough days. Kids are growing up too fast. Things are getting better too slowly. And yet, there is music that can reach out to us and remind us that these things have happened before and will happen again. And we'll survive it. There may not be the amazing activism of the 60's (apart from Obama's bid for President), but we cannot forget. This has all happened before and it will happen again.

What we need to do is hold on to our families. Live simpler. Live better. Be inspired. Listen to music. Real music. And remember that the answers are probably still just "Blown' in the Wind."

The Countdown Begins

Mike left on Sunday... at frickin 6:00 AM, which meant that we had to be at Wheeler at 3:30 AM. Fun.

NOT.

And so it begins - from now until he comes home on leave (hopefully February 2010), nothing but emails and phone calls when possible and care packages and praying.

His name is in the bulletin for prayers at St. Ann's and at Holy Ghost Church in Kula.

Niho will continue to ask "where's Daddy?" for the next couple weeks. The good answer seems to be "He went to work for a long time." Niho has also started coming downstairs to sleep with me at about 5 AM - something he hasn't done for months. He misses him.

I will blog here - and read if you'd like. I'm cocooning for a bit this first week he's gone. And then it'll get better.

Counting down to deployment

Here we are again. Deployment in approximately 25 days, give or take a few.

This is deployment number 3 for us in the last 5 years. A year in Afghanistan in 2004, 3 months after we were married. 15 months in Iraq in 2006-2007 - that sucked. And now another week in Iraq. Sigh.

It's weird. I find myself strangely myopic leading up to this deployment. I don't care much about work, all the other stuff that clutters my life. I care about spending time with the family, and that's about it. There will be plenty of time to work and focus on life craziness after Mike leaves. For now, I want things to be good with my family. I have 25 days to be with my famuily - my entire family - all 4 of us. After that, well, no family together until Mike comes home on leave, hopefully in Feb. 2010. Damn. 2010.

So I will post this next year of deployment here.... if you want to read, go for it. Not sure how good this blog will be - be it's a place for me to get it all down.

Peace.