cherish your children

This evening, Kanoa, Kala‘i and I will attend a memorial service for a 16 year old boy, Kai‘o...who tragically died in a car accident last week. His grandma works with my mom. I've been helping the ‘ohana design the program for the services, so have been getting to know him a little bit through the pictures and poems that have been submitted for the program. I look at my boys - Kanoa's the same age - and pray, so hard, for Kai‘o's ‘ohana...for their loss and the pain of missing him.

I can't imagine it...so I say, mahalo ke Akua! Thank God, praise the Lord every day that your child is there for you to wake up, to run around to various activities, and yes, to even nag. Better yet, take a moment to hug your child and thank God. Let your eyes light up when you see your child at the end of a long day...for isn't that what we live for? Aren't they our future, the light of our lives? I know my boys are. So ‘ae, mahalo ke Akua.

This song by Nā Leo Pilimehana reminds me of feeling so blessed when both of my boys were born...

You Don't Remember

You don't remember
I'll never forget
That blessed day when we first met
And I saw the face I always knew
The little smile, the little you

You don't remember
I'll never forget
One day in my life I will never regret
To feel such love I never knew
All bundled up right there in you

(Chorus)
As I held you near my heart I understood at last
The part of me I never met
You don't remember
But I'll never forget

You don't remember
I'll never forget
That blessed day when we first met
And when I heard your voice I realized the truth
Everything in my life would lead me here to you

You don't remember
I'll never forget
One day in my life I will never regret
A gift so precious giving me my angel love
Truly a miracle of God above

(Chorus)

And when I look into your eyes
I see the reason why I've lived my life

(Chorus)

Oh you don't remember
But I'll never forget
You don't remember
But I'll never forget