Hope all of the family had a wonderful Christmas...ours was nice and then very special.  My wife loves to bring me her presents (the ones she gets for me) and then sits and smiles with glee and the command "Okay...stop what you're doing and open these".  I have to laugh cause she gets happy about giving.  I got an Extra Large white t-shirt with a cultural legend manta ray icon in black print...(she got hereself the black shirt with white print)...LOL we are partners.   She also got me a pair of ear phones to use with this computer and other stuff it is compatible with...I am deaf with out aids and even with aids I'm not 100 percent unless God wants to excite me some.  The earphones are killer...I can hear an ant fart 50 feet away...lol (metaphor for great).  So we had breakfast...I did the honors with the cooking and when we were done she asked if we can trek down to a small island just off the coast of Hilo we can reach by walking bridge.   I know what she wanted to do and it would be good for us.  We go to the bay ocean waters and offer prayer and thoughts for those who have gone on before us and are no longer here.  For my wife that mostly means her mother Olivia who passed away 2 years ago.  Before we left we gathered some white hibiscus from our front yard and then scooted down to the island. She walked over to her area with her thoughts and prayers and I moved abit over to mine.  I chanted silently the chant "Na Aumakua" which recognizes the ancestors departed including my own and then I heard my wife laugh out loud just before I tossed my flowers into the Pacific.  She tossed first one and then the second one and as the second one hit the water a Honu, sea turtle; small one rose to meet the flower in recognition and then dove back down again moving toward where I was.  She was elated and so was I; I because the significance of this event is in connection to my culture which she has worked to come to acceptance of even this.  Her thoughts were for her mom and her thoughts were recognized.  Her spirits were so up after we left and walked back to where the car was and it affected me also.

This morning at work (we work at the same place) she came down to tell me that she is going to get a tatoo of a "Honu" ...not a big one on the up side of her right forearm to remind her of the spiritual connection thru the Honu with her mother Olivia and I told her that if she is going to do that then she most certainly should include a smaller version of it either in the lead or following (has meaning) because our grand daugher is also named after her mother and is continuing the journey.   My wife is looking for images now.  Just imagine that the other tatoo she has is of Mickey Mouse...LOL what a change!!   Thanks for letting me share.  ((((hugs))))