Thanksgiving in Hawaii

It's not a Hawaii-style Thanksgiving plate without at least
quadruple-quintuple plus starch side dishes (I have 5 here),
which probably why Hawaii has some of the highest rates
of diabetes  

Ah, Thanksgiving in Hawaii.  Since the 4th of July was long past, when I awoke to the all-too-familiar smell of smoke from a hibachi grill thick in the air, I knew that Thanksgiving day had finally arrived.  For most locals living here, Thanksgiving day typically means a full hearty plate of staples such as turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, corn... as well as rice, gun lo mein, sushi, sashimi, macaroni potato salad, taro/sweet bread rolls, hibachi-grilled foods, etc.

At my house, we always have a bottle of Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider/Grape Juice to toast at holiday meals and at least one form of pumpkin pie for dessert.  (Hawaii version:  Haupia (coconut) pumpkin pie, mmmm...)

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 For many Thanksgivings, my family and I would all pile (sometimes grudgingly) into the car often at least 30 minutes late to make that 20 minute drive over to my Grandparents' quiet house nestled on the side of the mountain directly overlooking Pearl Harbor after making a stop at Golden City for at least 2 orders of their awesome gun lo mein.

We would usually be the last to arrive to the smell of my uncle's hibachi already prepped and cooking, a smorgasbord of dishes laid out on the table along with my Grandparents' small rice cooker.  My Grandpa usually contributed an assortment of fruits for my sister and his favorite barbecue baby back ribs that were always unfailingly tasty and tender enough that the meat effortlessly and cleanly came off the bone.

  My Aunty and Uncle from the other side of the island would usually bring sushi, sashimi, chow mein, (and to my dad's delight), a small ice cooler of beer.  If my other Aunty was currently staying here, she'd have her homemade cranberry jelly and her specialty, my mom's absolute favorite potato salad.

If the food wasn't ready yet, my sister and I would go to spend time with our cousin(s).  When my cousin Shinobu was living there, me, my sister, and our cousin Tory would watch anime on her computer, usually Naruto or Azumanga.  Back then, torrented anime was a fairly new practice, so only subbed videos were available though the internet.  Tory was fairly young still, so he often got very bored. 

I find it somewhat ironic that several years later, after Shinobu moved to the mainland, that my sister and I would spend most Thanksgivings playing video games with Tory, one of which was a Naruto game.  (He really got into it after it aired on Cartoon Network, I wonder if he remembered that he actually had watched it before? xD )

After getting bored of anime or playing games and waiting for our rides home to finish talking, we would often go out on the lanai (patio) overlooking a sea of trees to play darts (largely disregarding the rules) on the old dartboard.  Sitting out there, it felt like you were high in a treehouse in the forest, far away from civilization

                 

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A little over two years ago now, our family suffered a great loss, the sudden passing of my Grandpa.  He was always a very quiet and gentle man, yet not untalkative and with an unexpectedly lighthearted and charming sense of humor; he exuded very little presence in a physical sense, but he was an essential type of glue and foundation stone that held our tiny family together.

Before his passing, we often took his role for granted, but now that we seem to be settling into our own new and lonely routines without gathering at the holidays, I at the very least have come to fully realize it.  But now, these family Thanksgiving/holiday gatherings that we always just assumed would continue indefinitely are nothing but slowly fading memories.

I hope that all of you were able to cherish any time that you got to spend with the friends and family that you care about this Thanksgiving, even if you weren't the most enthusiastic about seeing or spending time with them.  I wasn't able to to see my relatives, but I did get to spend time with my sister at home, spent some enjoyable time talking with a friend who came to drop off some Macys coupons, chatting with a friend though Pingchat throughout the day and playing Words with Friends with her.

After all, sometimes the most basic and simple things are the memories that you'll cherish and miss most in the future.  <3