I saw "The Descendants" yesterday. The film was brilliant, in my humble opinion. It captured the essence of a beautiful, isolated state of the union where the culture and way of life is both historically and culturally complex, given the simplicity of its Polynesian/Hawaiian heritage. Does that sound weird? Well, it is just that...and this film and its predecessor book by Kaui Hart Hemmings resonated with me and I'm sure hundreds of thousands of others who have called the islands of the Hawaiian archipelago their home, even for short periods of time.
Possibly the most amazing aspect of my seeing "The Descendants" yesterday is that my stepson, Cory, and his family and several of their mainland friends are on Oahu this week. Cory and his wife, who is better than a daughter to me, are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary. It's the first time they have been to Hawaii with their children. That's the fun part, because our almost four-year-old daughter is nicknamed "Keiki." She got the nickname from me and my husband, "Granny Shanny and Papa." We do nicknames for everybody....whether they like it or not! Our grandson is "Moose," because he was a HUGE baby. He got this name the day he was born, as did "Keiki." We chose "Keiki" because of her initials...and because for some reason we saw her as a beautiful and beloved Hawaiian child.
So today, I was delighted to find a sweet little video of our little "Keiki" on Facebook, doing an impromptu Haole hula outside the home where she and her family are staying on the North Shore of Oahu. Wow, is all I can say. Forget Madonna, our Keiki is my Super Bowl entertainer! I'm thrilled with her hula home video. Unfortunately I can't post it here because it's only on Facebook; but I am posting an older photo of her at the Lake Mission Viejo Beach near our home, a couple of years ago.
Aloha...
