Graduation Morning
It's 3 am and I can't sleep. Luke graduates today. It's pretty exciting! But the question of how many leis and what kind to give him is haunting me - how ridiculous is that!
The main souvenir I asked Reggie to bring me from Hawaii was kukui nut necklaces (pictured in a previous post). They sell so many beautiful ones, of such variety and such a great price, at the swap meet in Honolulu. Reggie brought home several, and then at my request asked his sister in law, who was still there, to get me more. We then decided to try to make a money lei for Luke out of one of them. Reggie watched a video and learned how to fold the money in an intricate way and we tied a few bills to the necklace. It looks great! We also made him a candy lei, and a gold dollar coin lei in the same fashion. Reggie also got a ribbon lei in the school colors and Luke's cousin made him a few more. Finally, we couldn't pass up a beautiful, small orchid one that they sell at Costco. So that sounded like plenty, each with their own meaning.
So last night we got out the girls scrapbooks and looked up each graduation photo. The girls had about the same number, of various kinds.
Julia was our first, and I asked my former volleyball coach and friend if she would help me make some leis for her. She generously made several ribbon leis and told me to have Julia where them with pride - to remember her polynesian pride. (The picture below is with another friend and Julia's youth leader at the time, Amy Benning).
Hillary, Mariah and Samantha each had cousins they graduated with, and so aunties and uncles and Grandma Hanaike were there with leis they had made for the girls.
As we looked at the photos I was flattered with the fact that Mariah pointed out how pretty the carnation leis looked - I had made each of them a carnation lei. I wasn't planning on making one for Luke - I'm not sure how much he cares, and fresh flower leis obviously don't last too long. But the pictures do, and I found out last night that that means more than I thought it did.
On a personal note, it is interesting at times to be of a different ethnicity as your spouse: it means you are then the only one in the family without that blood. So for me, my husband and kids are polynesian and I am not. (And of course Reggie experiences that visa versa with mine and the kids' caucasian blood). But then you are adopted into your spouse's culture. No one will ever look at me and mistake me for polynesian, but people are confused when they hear my last name (store clerk: "oh that's a pretty name". me: "yes, my husband is Hawaiian".) So throughout the years I've learned a few things about my adopted culture, like how to make carnation flower leis. The first one I made was with my sister-in-law for us to give to Reggie at the airport when he came home from his mission. Another one of my volleyball coaches from my teenage years made Reggie and I the most beautiful carnation leis for our wedding.
So, with all that tradition behind us, it is 3 am and I am wondering if it is worth it after all for me to rush to the flower market at 8 am and get some carnations and make Luke one more lei. I guess the pictures we take this afternoon will tell if I did or not.
