Without planning it exactly this way, it's taken me 30 years to come full circle. Almost 30 years ago I was born at Kapiolani Hospital here in Honolulu. I think the hospital had a different address at the time but now it's literally five blocks from our apartment. My first home was an apartment maybe three miles at the most from here. While I've always had the desire to live in Hawaii, I never thought I needed to be here at 30, it just sort of worked out this way.
Tonight I got my first birthday card of the year from my grandmother Tutu. She pointed out that this is my first birthday in Hawaii. I find that amazing and somehow very meaningful. I suppose I've come back 'home.'
This is the most mellow, most low-key I have ever been about my birthday. Usually I organize a big group get-together, have a wish-list for gifts, plan to spoil myself, and celebrate me. And usually that comes with pressure and stress. This year, it's as if my birthday were any other day. I'll celebrate. And I'll get friends together. And my birthday falls on a weekend so I won't burst into tears at work as I have in the past. It sounds anti-climatic but I think it's right. I feel more at peace with it than I ever have. Maybe it's because I've already done what I needed to get here. Now I get to coast a bit.
At 2:10pm on the 11th, you can mark it official... 30 years of Jenni and back where I started.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
OK - not only were you born at Kapiolani Hospital (and yes - same location) but so was your mother!
This is actually your second birthday in Hawaii - we celebrated your first birthday at our home on Kaneohe Bay. We had planned to celebrate at Kailua Beach but it rained! Just some birthday trivia.
Hau'oli la Hanau!
Aloha Au Ia 'Oe, Mom
Post a Comment