A bright light in the month of May (Month #2)

Although May has historically been a month of much celebration for our family, this year, is of course, different... We kick off the month with Boys Day early in the month, which quickly leads to Mothers Day, then Ryan's birthday, the last day of school, and ends with our anniversary.

This year we had another very special event that was a bit more heartbreaking, in that we had to scale down the celebrating by tenfold. My nephew, Kenichi, graduated from high school. Although we could not invite his friends, teachers, mentors, etc...we did our best to fete him...and I think we did a pretty good job. ;-) (He doesn't like attention, anyway.)

His mom and dad did a phenomenal job selecting the decor, the menu (there were lava flows, a rousing bingo game), etc. My brother Joey compiled vignettes of well wishes from people near and far who couldn't be here (Joey and a few relatives couldn't fly in from WA and Oahu, and his relatives from Japan couldn't fly over), and I made a video of his life in photos. It was an intimate and fun gathering honoring our very special guy. Here are pics of the special day:

The decor...

The flowers and leis...

Our awesome friend Rose, who is family, picked most of these flowers for us that morning, saving us so much precious time! She got yellow blossoms from our neighbor, Lisa. She got deep pink blossoms from our other neighbor, Julya. We got pink blossoms from our own yard, and the white ones from another neighbor, Dave.

I was able to sew 8 leis from the plumeria blossoms alone. The night prior, we had also made a few edible leis with protein bars and Japanese Hi-Chew candies, and a few months prior, Ry and I bought him two gorgeous purple ribbon leis from a craft fair. My mother and sister in law, Lynne, each also sewed/made a similar amount of lei each, to make up for the absence of the usual friends/family he would have seen at a normal graduation ceremony.

The ohana...

Mom Mika, Dad Jon, brother Riki, and Kenichi

 With all his Hawaiian cousins (the Japan ones couldn't make it)

 With his Hawaiian grandparents (again, Japanese ones couldn't make it)

The headless graduate

The graduate's face before he got his other ten leis from Aunty Lynne & Uncle Joel

The graduate in cap and gown

It wasn't the celebration we planned, but I think, in the end, it was the celebration Keni most wanted. He's not one for attention, as he's quite humble and introverted. However, his family is darned proud of him- he's the first of the grandchildren to accomplish that, and we can't wait to see where this kid goes. He's the hardest worker I know, an accomplished black belt student of karate, bilingual, very mechanically inclined, an aspiring hunter/fisherman and fiercely loyal. There's not much to not love about this kid. The future may not be quite as bright as it was pre-COVID, and his original plans of an electrical apprenticeship have to be shelved for a bit, but we will wait it out, and forge another path...because isn't that life?

Congratulations, Ken-kun!!!