Over Veteran's Day weekend... I traveled 2,400 miles across the Pacific Ocean for Papa Fuji's celebration of life.
Ala Wai Canal
I've mentioned it a few times on the blog, but in case you missed it... both of my parents were born and raised on Oahu. But they didn't meet there. They met in Wisconsin while attending college... and spent the rest of their lives together on the mainland. Earlier in the year, my father returned to Oahu and was laid to rest in our family's plot.
He didn't want to have a service, but thought it would be nice if we could get both sides of the family together for a small luncheon. My siblings and I were blown away by the number of people interested in attending. It ended up being a family reunion and an opportunity for many of us to reconnect and catch up.
One of the coolest things was seeing my mother's side of the family interact with my father's side. It's such a small world. One of my cousins (on my mom's side) discovered he lives just a block over from another cousin (on my dad's side).
I'm guessing that a lot of them could easily play the "six degrees" game considering the majority have lived their entire lives on the same island.
Personally... I hadn't been back in fifteen years. It was a quick trip... but I made sure to eat saimin at Zippy's, malassadas from Leonard's, and shave ice from Shimazu's:
Here's a wallet card shot from my hotel room:
Ala Moana Hotel
Although most of the conversations at the party involved reminiscing and family related stuff... baseball made its way into a few of them.
One of my cousins asked me if I was going to continue supporting the A's after their move to Sacramento/Las Vegas.
1977 Hostess #52
I explained that I've been a fan since the 70's... so ultimately I would continue rooting for them wherever they played.
2020 Topps Chrome Refractor #160
I was also reminded that the Dodgers have a huge following in Hawaii. I spoke with three cousins who were excited about their recent World Series win... and all three are big fans of this guy:
2024 Topps Now #1
All three of these cards were part of a PWE I received from Jim over at cards as i see them. Thank you Jim! Looking forward to getting together again for some burgers the next time you're in the Bay Area.
I'd also like to thank Nick over at njwv for inspiring me to purchase this card:
1893 Arbuckle's Coffee #27
Well that wraps up today's post. The past few weeks have been really busy with this recent trip and parent/teacher conferences. However this Saturday kicks off my Thanksgiving Break. Although I'll be spending some time with family... the plan is to spend at least two or three quality days in the office catching up with care packages, two boxes from Sportlots, and my latest COMC shipment.
Until then...
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
I'm happy for you that you were able to make that trip. Sounds like it was wonderful all the way around.
ReplyDeleteLove the Leonard's Bakery sign!
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing, and love seeing pics of Hawaii. Not surprised that so many people wanted to pay their respect! Given the person you were raised to be, I'm sure your parents made an impact on many.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff, Fuji. I'm not much of a world traveler, but I love visiting Hawaii. And it sounds like you've got a wonderful family. Glad you were able to have a nice get-together celebrating your dad.
ReplyDeleteI admire your willpower to let dealer deliveries sit for more than an hour.
ReplyDeleteDude, that shaved ice looked so goooooood.
ReplyDeletethe angels in order - yeah... outside of the sore back from the long flight, it was a really nice trip.
ReplyDeletebo - i actually have a wallet card shot with the leonard's bakery sign... but the angle wasn't nearly as cool
the lost collector - thank you for the kind words. i'm sure my parents appreciate (assuming they're reading my blog... lol). either way, they were definitetly smiling down on us at the family reunion
defgav - thanks gavin. it was really nice reconnecting with all of my cousins. hopefully it'll inspire more trips over to the islands
gca - not so much about willpower. it's more about lack of time and ocd. i can rip into the packages in probably less than 2 hours. but the sorting, organization, and documentation will take days
johnnys trading spot - it was so delicious! wish i had more time to hit up other shave ice spots
Oh hot damn. Glad you could get out there. Not the happiest of reasons to go but I'm sure it was good for your soul to get back to the 'aina. I'm jealous as all hell since I could certainly use that kind of recharge right now.
ReplyDeleteAlways good to refill on Leonards and Zippys. I've never been to Shimazu's (Waiola and Matsumoto's have tended to be on our list) but it's never a bad thing to add another place to check out. You get mango and lihing?
And nice Arbuckle. I haven't pulled the trigger on that one since the alligator hunting is so weird and so wrong.
Glad you got to meet with your peeps.
ReplyDeleteGreat that you got to catch up. My Mom always says that the silver linings in Celebrations of life and weddings is that family gets to catch up and see each other. And Zippy’s. I ate there the first time a few months ago. Yum!
ReplyDeleteGreat that you got to catch up. My Mom always says that the silver linings in Celebrations of life and weddings is that family gets to catch up and see each other. And Zippy’s. I ate there the first time a few months ago. Yum!
ReplyDelete