Malama Na Keiki

Saturday night was the Hanahau’ oli Malama Na Keiki auction held at the Hawaii Convention Center. As tradition goes, Hanahau’ oli always invites the graduating class to partake in the auction and dining events, a gathering that is meant exclusively for the Hanahau’ oli parents, staff and board members. Not only was it a privilege to attend such a gathering but also I especially looked forward to reuniting with all the 01 alums.
I must be honest, at first; the whole reuniting with my fellow Hanahau'oliers was kind of weird. I mean, the majority of us attended Punahou, yet we haven’t spoken much since those first weeks of school in 7th grade. Of course there are those who I've kept in touch with and are still close friends with today, however they're also those who I don’t talk to even though we go way back. I mean I knew some of these people when they used to do really strange things like suck on their toes. Anyway the weirdness of it all quickly evaporated as we all reminisced on the days of bug weddings, tree house romances and crazy British teachers and such.
Overall the Malama Na Keiki program was pretty good. The food was excellent, even the bread sticks and the mint flavored tea. I not only got to see my childhood friends but I also saw my owner friend of Waiola shave ice. Also our two 01 alum tables were right next to the table with Daniel Dae Kim from LOST. At the end of the night we even took a picture with him. It was pretty sweet. The night went pretty well, the only thing that got me was how much and how little people change at the same time. Sitting at the table it was easy to see that even though six years had passed we all are still very similar to our sixth grade selves. It’s quite funny, each unique and even annoying personality quality that we had as sixth graders is still apart of us today. It was quite an experience being able to hang out with old friends again. On the other hand its kind of weird thinking that at the end of this year we'll be faced with another graduation and another group of friends. Its pretty guaranteed that current friends will separate some but its encouraging that no matter what happens a reunion is always in the future.