Each year, my wife Anne hosts a glorious celebration of family and friendship and enough food to feed a small army. And that was true this year as well, as 24 other people joined us, including our sons Kevin and Clayton and their families. Our eldest son Kyle was unable to join us as he and his family were in Ukraine meeting our new grandson Ikaika.
Anne characterized this year's joyous celebration as "The happiness, the laughter and the joy of being together," and I agree with her. It was wonderful, although we all missed Kyle, Diane and our 12 year old grandson Keoni.
Three events stood out for me:
1) Having Kevin's company as I played with his and Melody's sons Brody, age 7 and Gannon, age 5 in the playroom. We played with trucks and other toys as the little boys' imagination created a whole new and dazzling world of make believe.
2) In our living room packed with people, during the Secret Santa time, Anne was given a gift our 7 year old grandson Cameron loved, a CD of the movie, "Hop." Knowing the movie was as good as his, Cameron got so excited, he spontaniously leaped from the couch and grabbed Anne, giving her a big hug while thanking her.
Everyone was so moved by his action, that they started cheering and laughing. In response, Cameron seemed horror struck and he ran from the room. I followed him into the family room where he had gotten onto the couch, tears running down his cheeks. "Everybody's laughing at me," he said as he began to cry harder and covered his face with a pillow.
I assured him they weren't laughing at him but expressing their happiness at his response. But since he was tiny, Cameron has always gotten upset at the thought people might be laughing at him and it took some extended conversation to convince him they weren't laughing at him now.
During that conversation, he stunned me when he said that when he was in Kindergarten two years ago, his music teacher hit him and dragged him across the floor. I assured him no teacher had the right to do that and I was sorry such a terrible incident had taken place.
After further conversation between us, Cameron calmed down and we rejoined everyone in the living room as he soon enthusiastically participated again. But I quietly took Clayton aside and told him what Cameron told me his Kindergarten music teacher had done to him.
Clayton said he was aware and that it had been dealt with. He said that because of Cameron and incidents with other children, she was no longer teaching there.
3) Being with my niece Debbie was very special. She has grown incredibly in recent years and despite the pressures we all face in life, she often handles them well enough to uplift the lives of others. That she reads and contemplates and has such a depth of sensitivity is bringing her a greater awareness of the needs of others and she quietly offers them a helping hand.
She never brags about her accomplishments but instead humbly encourages and helps people. It is one thing after the next, from helping an elderly person into the passenger seat of a car, to getting food for a person overlooked by the hostess at a recent party, to joining a gym to encourage a young man to join with her and to keep going so he would get in shape as it built his self-esteem.
These were but three of the events that stood out for me, as I viewed each of the attendees regardless of relationship as an extended member of my family. Thank God we have such abundance that we can provide so much food and the warmth of our home to others.
Dick
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