White and Purple Flowers, taken on September 8, 2012, Hawaii
Photo Credit: Kelly Vial 2012
Yesterday I had the opportunity to be a part of my husbands family reunion here in Hawaii. It was a beautiful, but hot day with little breeze. As we entered, my husband signed us in and grabbed our name tags that stated what line we were descended from. There are about 11 different family lines that stemmed from one common ancestor. I took our trays of food to the outdoor kitchen where there were many hugs and kisses going around, and new introductions being made. I don’t think I’ve hugged and kissed that many people in one day EVER! You could definitely feel the close bond of a loving Ohana (family). We made our rounds saying aloha to the family sitting down at tables or sitting on benches underneath the palm trees.
After speaking and saying hello to all the Ohana, I decided to take some photos of the boards on display of the Meyer genealogy tree! Huge! It was stretched out over 3 or 4 different display boards. Another 2 or 3 boards also displayed old family photos of generations past. One looked like a collage, and the others were more formal looking with 8×10 photos with the ancestors name below them. Very nice!
There was a straw hut I guess you could say, that had members of the Ohana giving out goodie bags to the keiki (children). The children’s games were all set up- putt putt golf, a pinata swinging from the tree above, and many others. Some of the older kids were tossing a football, the younger ones were chasing each other around trees, blowing bubbles, blowing their little plastic horns which sounded like a high pitched whistle. The band under the tents sounded wonderful, playing local style music and just seeing everyone so happy, dancing around, doing hula and just having some good ol’ fun was just one of the highlights of the day.
Before enjoying the food that our Lord had blessed us with, we had Pule Ho’okuu (opening prayer). There was an abundance of food brought to eight banquet tables, laden with all the food you could possibly envision. Anything from fried chicken and hot dogs to Pork Adobo and spinach salad with tofu (which was my favorite), potato mac salad, beef curry, pies and chantilly cake, doughnuts, mini muffins, and brownies; you name it and it was there.
After the potluck lunch, there was a presentation given on the history of George Kahelelani Meyer, our common ancestor. Group introductions of the descendants by lineage were then asked to go on stage in front of everyone. Everyone snapping pictures of each generation and one person to speak and say how they were descended from this one man. After all eleven different family lines had their turn on the stage, we all gathered around in the biggest circle I ever seen, holding hands with one another while everyone sang “Hawaii Aloha” which was written by Reverend Lorenzo Lyons. This concluded all ceremonies of the day, but this didn’t stop me from playing with the keiki’s, chasing one little girl around trees, blowing bubbles with a 3 year old cutey and passing a football to one of the other boys. Mind you, I don’t have a football arm! But it was all in good fun and I had the best anniversary day with my husband and his extended family, that I truly enjoyed being a part of!
Before we left for the day, my husbands grandmother, Evelyn was acknowledged by the entire Ohana as being the oldest living descendant of George Kahelelani Meyer. She had a beautiful framed picture box type of photo frame, where on display at the top, were two crossed bats that was an emblem of sorts and had a group photo of her grandfather as a member of the local baseball team. What an honor for her! Love you grams <3!
Hawaii Aloha Song Lyrics by Reverend Lorenzo Lyons
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