Celebrating a 60th Wedding Anniversary—Father’s Day Too!

Posted 28 July 2016 by
Global Marketing
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The temperature on this side of the island is much cooler, so Kevin sets about getting a fire started downstairs. I go online to look for restaurants having been assured by the owner in previous emails that it will be easy to get a reservation on a Sunday night. What we both forgot is that this Sunday is Father’s Day. Being the small town that it is, there aren’t many restaurants, and most of them are booked. What to do? Time to use my Perceiving preference (superpowers?) and come up with a new, spur-of-the-moment plan.

Thank goodness for Yelp! I find a market just a few minutes away. Kevin, Terri, and I climb up into our monster of an SUV and head out to the market. I like exploring new places and really like experiencing different types of food. Culinary Arts shows up as one of my top basic interests on the Strong Interest Inventory® tool. Anyone who knows me would not be surprised.

When I was young I would spend lots of time sitting at the breakfast counter peering into the kitchen as my mom cooked. To this day, my mom is the best chef in the world to me. When I grew up (and in my culture) men did not spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So I would just watch. It wasn’t until I got older that I learned how much I not only like to eat, but like to cook. I’m glad I have been able to cook for Mom back in my home in San Jose and soon here in Hawaii.

As we walk through the aisles of this market, I immediately realize there will not be a lot of real cooking tonight for our dinner. The most appealing options are frozen fried chicken and frozen Portuguese soup, so I buy both. Kevin gets some wine, items for breakfast, and some vegetables—frozen of course! Terri gets snacks and an apple pie that we later learn will take an hour in the oven before it is ready to eat. At one point I abandon the idea of all this frozen food and head to the restaurant next door, hoping I can at least order take-out. But this is not meant to be, as the line of people streaming out of the restaurant makes it very clear that take-out would take much too long.

Fortunately, my family is not picky. When we come home from our shopping adventure, we unpack the bags and start getting everything ready. Kevin checks the fire in the fireplace to keep that going. Mom and Dad have the television on in the family room, where I learn the Golden State Warriors have lost game 7 of the NBA Finals. Sad face. Terri starts organizing the table and helping where she can. Dinner only takes some thawing and then heating in the microwave. We all sit down for dinner, and no one complains about anything. We are in Hawaii after all. It’s Father’s Day. We give Dad his cards and toast him for being the best father anyone could ever have. While we won’t visit Volcano National Park tonight (we are way too tired), we are excited about getting up early tomorrow for an anticipated and amazing day two experience.

If you want to read more about my Hawaiian family vacation, check out the previous blogs in this series:

 

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