Sunday, November 22, 2009

**Just found out that I forgot to put the date...HELLOOOO!?!? lol

A memorial is being held in HONOLULU, HI. Below are the details...

Mililani Memorial Park & Mortuary

website

20 North Kukui Street

Honolulu, HI 96813

SUNDAY - NOVEMBER 29, 2009

Memorial: 8:30am - 11:00am

Service: 11:00am - Noon

Casual dress. Light refreshements & pastries will be served.

************************

Mahalo to ALL of you that came last yesterday to Mom's services & to all of the ladies & men of Ke'ala 'O Kamailelauli'ili'i & Manawaiopuna for all of your hard work. Mom's service yesterday couldn't have been more Perfect.

A month prior to Mom's passing, she told Auntie Denice that she wanted to be cremated. Auntie Day told Dad & I, but Mom never made mention of anything else that she wanted. The day before Mom's passing, her & Dad were having a conversation....

Dad: I understand that you told your sister that you wanted to be cremated

Mom: Yes

Dad: Is there anything else you want?

Mom: I want my service to be like Uncle Val's (a good friends, husband who just passed 3mo ago) nice & simple

Dad: Ok, anything else?

Mom: 200 balloons....all green

Dad: Why balloons?

Mom: When my service is done, i want everyone to go outside & let them all go


We made it happen. One of the services that Mt. View Funeral Home offered was "release of 100 'green' biodegradable balloons," & they offered them in any color that we wanted. (the 'green' meant earth friendly, not the color lol) So last night, the first 200 people got balloons & EVERYONE went outside & we all let them go together. It was just so beautiful & just as she wanted.

We are heading to Honolulu on Tuesday...Dad, Myself, My family & some of Mom's good friends. We will be spending Thanksgiving with the family & then on Sunday, we will be having a memorial. For those in Hawaii, I really hope that you folks can join us. And please, please, please let me know who you are & how you know Mom. I've heard so many stories throughout my life of all these wonderful people that were in Mom's life at one point & I'd love to meet all of you.

Mahalo for all of the love, prayers & support....

Monday, November 16, 2009

Services for Mom have been finalized & are as follows...

Saturday, November 21, 2009

3pm - 6pm

Public Viewing from 3-4pm
Service from 4-5pm
Reception from 5-6pm

Mountain View Funeral Home
Aspen Chapel - Celebration of Life Building
4100 Steilacoom Blvd. SW
Lakewood, WA 98499
WEBSITE

**Please do not bring any flowers as Mom is being cremated

For those back home in Hawaii, we will be bringing Mom's ashes to Honolulu next week to hold a service there. As soon as the information is available, I will update here.

Mahalo to ALL of you that have been calling, emailing, texting, etc. We are overwhelmed with love & joy & are so thankful to each & every one of you.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

This morning at 3:51am, Mom went home. No more cancer, no more treatments, no more poking & prodding, no more out of breath moments. Instead, I pray that she will continue to watch over all of us & guide us all in this sad time.

I love you Mommy...

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Decided to change the header again today to my new favorite photo of Mom.

Here's the old one.


This week we were given the week off from hula & I must say, it's been really nice to not have anything planned. However, there are some moments where I wished that we did have class so that I could take Mom to just get out of the house.

I didn't start this blog to sugar coat anything, it was started simply because I know that Mom is loved by so many & a lot of folks wanted to know how she was doing. When we came back from our trip to California, Mom was exhausted. She slept on & off for almost 2 1/2 days. She was really weak & had no energy. I planned to have a birthday dinner for Nyomi the day after we returned & even though Mom went with us, it was so obvious that she was so worn out. It was actually pretty scary. She's been having a hard time going up the stairs & needs to take a break 1/2 way up. But coming down, it's much easier on her. She spends most of her time in her room relaxing & taking it easy & hardly eats anything at all. I, along with everyone else, have been trying to get her to eat-eat-eat, but she just has no appetite. A good day for her is when she drinks a full bottle of Ensure & drinks some soup (maybe 2 shot glasses worth) a couple of times a day & maybe has a little poi. Like I said...that's a "good day" for her.

Yesterday (Wednesday), I was feeling a bit uneasy because the night before she was so exhausted out at dinner. But when I met Kapua at her house in the afternoon, she was sitting up at the dining room table, eating some Cream of Wheat & sipping on some Vitamin Water. After she was finished, I rubbed her hands & arms with lotion, while Kapua did her head, neck, back, feet & legs. After that Kapua cleaned Mom's ears & just massaged her a little bit. I was so happy to see Mom back to where she was prior to leaving for California.

Today she was feeling so good that Dad took her to the casino, so we know she's doing good, right?

Well I just pray that she will continue to find the strength within her to keep fighting, because I pray for it everyday. Thank you all so much for leaving her messages & everything, it means so much to see how much she is loved & cared about.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

We are officially back from our trip to Ia Oe E Ka La & it was GREAT!! Full of many emotions, ups, downs, costume issues, lei making til the wee hours of the morning, lack of sleep, happy hugs, happy tears....but it was GREAT!!

We came home with SEVEN trophies...

**Alaka'i won 1st place Kane soloist

**Okekai won 1st place Wahine soloist

**Group Kane won 2nd place in Kahiko

**Group Kane won 1st place in Auana

**Palua (boy/girl combined) won 1st place in Kahiko

**Palua won 2nd place in Auana

**Perpetual trophy for highest points for Group Kane & Wahine


On Friday (soloist day), I knew for sure that Mom wasn't going to ho'opa'a, but she sat in the 1st row on both kahiko performances. Then when Okekai & Alaka'i were getting ready for their auana songs, Mom asked me "Can you ask Auntie Charlene to put my makeup on?" And I knew that was it...she was going to play bass for them. And she did. It was SO wonderful to see her up there, playing...tapping her foot, bobbing her head to the music & smiling away.

On Saturday, it was all kahiko performances for us. Mom seemed tired all day, not eating much or drinking much, just in the mood to sleep & relax & we tried to make that happen as best as we could in the dressing room. (she didn't want to go away from the action) When we were done with all of our songs, we decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner & then headed back to the hotel, because we had lei to make. We had a quick meeting & then Mom got some rest while we made our lei's til the weeeeee hours of the morning.

On Sunday morning, Mom was doing way better & was very well rested. She started off her day with her Ensure, which i'm positive is a good morning boost for her! She played music for all three of our performances on this day & I enjoyed, along with many others, watching her get up to play.

After all of our performances, we had a long break until the awards ceremony so Mom decided to take a nap in the car, which lasted a good hour & a half at least. Aloha & I went to get her just before the awards & she sat at the bottom of our bleachers in her walker next to Uncle. As soon as Okekai was announced as the winner of her soloist division, Mom started to cry...as did everyone else. But you could see that she was just so proud. And as the awards kept rolling in & our name kept being announced, she cried more & more. The most touching part of the awards ceremony was that for every award that was announced, everyone came to give Mom a hug & a honi.

It was a great weekend.


**Alaka'i with ho'opa'a getting ready to go on stage for kahiko

**Okekai on stage for her kahiko performance


**Auntie Charlene doing Mom's makeup so that she can play music for the soloists


**Alaka'i on stage for Kananaka


**Look at Mom's face...priceless!

**Okekai performing Nani Manoa


**Palua getting ready for their kahiko performance


**Mom left the dressing room a little earlier than everyone so that she could go in to the venue to get a good seat, so everyone made a bridge for her to go through on her way out.

**After the Palua kahiko performance

**The Kane getting ready for their kahiko performance. Alaka'i is obviously bored! (ha) And their lei were wet which is why they're wearing their pareau underneath it. But it actually looks like they're all wearing capes & acting like superheroes! lol


**The girls getting ready to go on for kahiko. Our song talks about a parrot, hence the different color skirts.

**Wahine line after performing

**Palua getting ready to go on for auana


**Mom giving high-five's & knuckles on her way out to the stage to play

**Walking out to the microphones

**Overlooking the stage


**Palua after their auana performance


**Mom with the Palua line. Jordahn, Jason, Albert, Justin, Alaka'i, Leilani, Tishy & Puamohala


**Uncle Mark Ho'omalu saw Mom as he was making his way to the stage & said "Sweetie, GET UP off that chair & walk!" He came to honi her & had so many nice (and funny) things to say to her.


**When Uncle Mark yelled at Mom to get up, she pulled her bandana off of her head & one of his dancers, Justin, came up & said "HEY AUNTIE, NOW WE'RE COOL TOGETHER!"


**The Kane group after their auana performance - Justin, Stefan, Jason, Albert & Alaka'i


**Kane with the musicians of Ke'ala 'O Kamailelauli'ili'i & Manawaiopuna


**The Wahine & Musicians of Ke'ala 'O Kamailelauli'ili'i & Manawaiopuna


**Mom's reaction after the announcement of our first award. You can see everyone looking at her in the background too.

**Everyone gave Mom honi's after they went on stage to get their awards

**The CRAZIES of Ke'ala 'O Kamailelauli'ili'i & Manawaiopuna!!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

LET'S GOOOOOO!!! We're less than 24 hours away from leaving for Oakland, CA & we are SO excited!! Can you tell??

The Thursday night girls have their last practice tonight & then most of the group leaves bright & early in the morning, so hopefully practice won't last too long!!

Mom is doing well. Her voice is coming back surely but slowly. She's been resting up the past few days preparing for this trip & I know that she was done packing her bags on Tuesday. (over-achiever!! lol)

I hope that if anything this weekend, she just relaxes & has fun & takes everything in.

Go Ke'ala 'O Kamailelauli'ili'i & Manawaiopuna!! :)

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Changed the header again!!



I haven't posted since Saturday...I know, I'm a slacker!! But things are well. Mom has been getting good rest & sleeping well. She's been eating often, yet still has a sore throat, which prevents her from eating some things that will make her gain weight. However, her poi & raw fish continue & will always continue to satisfy her.

We're getting ready to travel to Oakland this weekend to compete in Ia Oe E Ka La. This is our first time going & we're very excited to go! Mom is not going to ho'opa'a this year & isn't sure yet if she'll be playing Hinano (the bass) either. I know that she wants to be up there on the stage with us. I also know that I'd rather her take it easy then over-do herself. Over-doing it doesn't help her at all & causes more fatigue than anything.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much i've learned throughout all of this. This meaning, things about my Mom, this disease, the treatments, the doctors, the procedures, the human body, etc. It's amazing. Most of all, i've learned that you should never take those you love for granted & should always remind them that you love them....even if you think they already know.

Love you all.