Life in Kana-text (er… CONtext)
Yesterday my dad should have turned seventy. He passed away this year on my birthday, so this weekend we've been missing him on his. Ironically, I could still practice my favorite joke-ritual, which was not to call my dad (whose depth of phone-phobia was rivaled only by my sister's and my own) on his birthday. I … Continue reading Addendum to a Eulogy
My sister and I used to play the Milton-Bradley board game Life, moving a plastic car along the predetermined path (adding pink or blue pegs to represent spouse and kids), and marking the "mileposts" of American living by paying or collecting money for various events. I suppose this game is intended to represent how life is "supposed" … Continue reading “Life”—a Revised Edition
I've been keeping journals since I was six years old. That first diary is a real gem, with one-sentence entries like: "Today I went crazy and thawt I was a frog." I wish I remembered the story behind that... The trouble with keeping journals, though, has always been the fact that when you have the … Continue reading The Diarist’s Conundrum, & a Story About Community
Once Upon a Time... Kana & Keoni owned a Hawai'ian barbecue restaurant. For more than a year, Kana Girl's Hawai'ian BBQ held UrbanSpoon's #1 spot for "Best BBQ restaurant" in the Treasure Valley (home to one-third of Idaho's population).... And we had a kick-ass time of it, building a unique atmosphere with our combined knowledge … Continue reading Once Upon a Restaurant
My mother used to joke that as far as holiday cards were concerned, "the Holidays" should mean not just Christmas, but also New Year's---and probably Martin Luther King Day, Valentine's Day, and Presidents' Day as well. In other words, if the holiday cards got sent out before the end of February, they shouldn't be considered … Continue reading The Holiday Card
When our son Christian started Kindergarten, the school called me up within the first two weeks to ask if they could move him to second grade. Eep! We compromised at the halfway point, and he skipped just one grade. I had no question that he could handle the academics, but I had fears for junior-high … Continue reading The Shampoo Manifesto
I had the most marvelous conversation the other evening with our teenage son. Kapena got home from football practice ahead of his dad (who's coaching the Freshman team and thoroughly beloved by players and coaches and parents alike---but that's a post for another time) and plunked himself down beside me to review the day. I … Continue reading A Homecoming Game, Indeed
Kana's Chronicles 