I love this picture...it illustrates my dad's spirit so well! He lived life to the fullest. You could tell how happy my mom was at this time. This was at one of the famous Kahuku Shrimp food trucks...before food trucks were a thing. Looking back at it...I wish I moved back to Hawaii at that time. I wish I would've implemented the lifestyle changes with nutrition that my dad and mom needed. Heck ... the nutritional lifestyle choices we ALL needed.
The cuisine in Hawaii is unique...and contributes significantly to the high levels of heart disease and obesity you see with local people in Hawaii. Two scoops rice and mac salad, a protein that is either breaded or soaked in Teriyaki sauce high in sugar. Always on a bed of cabbage though...:) The frustrating thing is. that native Hawaiian diet is actually not that. We ate fish, poi, protein kalua pig and fruit. That diet is actually very good.
The diet in Hawaii is one of the main reasons my dad is not here with us today and it certainly helped my mom down the path of cognitive decline. August 26th, 2010 is when my dad took his last breath and my mother witnessed it.
We went back to my dad's gravesite last year for my mom's 80th birthday. Surprisingly, she didn't talk about any memories of living with my dad in Kunia (Kupuna Loop). She talked more about when she moved here when she was 18. It was as if she had completely erased those memories from her mind.
I was visiting my mom for mother's day weekend in May of 2022. I had printed out pictures from our trip to Hawaii the month prior. She saw a picture of her by my dad's gravesite and she started crying. She said....'He's supposed to be here. We're supposed to live the rest of our lives together.' The most surprising thing about her reaction was that I can count on one hand all of the times my mother cried. It was certainly a healing moment for my mom and I'm glad because she needs more of those.