happy beek-day little bro

when i was six years old my parents gave me a little baby brother. i say "gave" me because i begged and pleaded my mom for a baby. she tells me that i am the reason they had more children. whether that is true or not, i don't know, but i am very grateful that they did have more children.

today is the birthday of that little brother they brought home 27 years ago. i wish i could call him up and wish him a happy birthday, but he is on vacation in thailand! lucky guy!

being that it is your birthday, kawika, i wanted to share some of my favorite memories of you:

• you were due to be born on my birthday, so mom, not wanting your arrival to ruin my 6th birthday, planned my party 10 days early on the 26th of september. but i guess you were determined to spoil the party and were born 10 days early on my party day! little stinker! but i got over it because you were so cute!

• i loved seeing your naked little okole (hawaiian translation: bum) with it's mongolian spot (translation: blackish-blue spot found on the okole of many asian babies that looks like a bruise) sunning on the front lawn in the little reed-woven baby bassinet

• gavan and i loved getting you dizzy by spinning you around in the hammock chair hanging from the rafters in the family room of the red house, then putting you down on the ground and watching you stumble around.
  
  
• *colby couldn't pronounce your name so he called you "beeka" and it stuck. your many nicknames beek, beekers, beeka, beeks.



• i loved watching you wrestle with gavan and malia on mom and dad's bed. or should i say i loved watching "mad man beeks" wrestling with "andre the giant" and "meekies the man hunter". man, the names gavan came up with! i don't know why i was never included in these wrestling matches?

• you were such a good sport to let my friends and i dress you up as a little sister, make-up and all! hmmm, maybe that would explain the green dress.

• you were always so brave! never shy like your brother and sister before you. i wish i had more of that in me!

*your speed in the water got you the name of the "flyin' hawaiian" in the newspaper. i was so proud that i was the sister of the "flyin' hawaiian"

• you've always been such a wild hair, both figuratively and literally. i remember hearing about your crazy dance on the stage at a barenaked ladies concert. not only did you dance crazy, but you were wearing a green dress (that's right folks, my brother was sportin' a green dress, dancing on stage with the barenaked ladies)
  
  

  "If I had a million dollars - If I had a million dollars Well, I'd buy you a green dress - but not a real green dress, that's cruel"

*this video is long, but entertaining. great song! at about 1:35, kawika is introduced onto the stage. you'll see why i call him my crazy bro. always the life of the party, never a dull moment with beek!

• you are brilliant (the other green dress wearer in the video was the co-valedictorian with kawika in high school. they competed for the honor and yet remained best friends!)

• eating sushi

• instant messaging and how much the girls love the sounds of the monkey, toilet, and smiley face. "do it again!"

• just you and i playing tumbling dice until 3:00 in the morning knowing you had to work the next morning and i had a nursing baby who could wake up at anytime. we didn't care, we were just having fun together making and breaking our own records.

• we have many of the same characteristic traits, while malia and gavan share similar characteristics. some i can think of, we are detail oriented, perfectionistic, organized- we love a neat and tidy area (i love the story of when you were 3 years old refolding your clean clothes because mom didn't do it right!), very hard on ourselves (remember the major high school report that you lost on the computer, the night before it was due? you practically went into convulsions. your fingers and toes went numb and you were practically in shock! mom had to call dad to come home and it wasn't until you received a blessing that you could finally calm down. that was pretty intense stuff!) driven when it comes to academics/career, frugal with money (i like to call it money smart), good with numbers.


• i love watching you play with kawena. you have such a soft spot for her and it makes sense. it was because of you and your name that i wanted to give her a name with the hawaiian "v". your names are only 2 letters off from each other.



• shopping for pants with you because you needed a woman's opinion, though i don't know how much help i actually was i appreciated you asking me to help.

• i loved staying with you at your apartment. we didn't get much sleep, but we sure had some great late night conversations!

• you show great strength in adversity!

you're a great brother and a wonderful example, beek. happy birthday and may this be your best year yet! i love you!