My last entry was a little gloomy. So, lest you get the impression that it’s always up hill and into the wind for us, let me assure you that that is only true about 90% of the time. Here’s a little story to balance the last one.
Yesterday I was up on Dixon Hill working on the new transmitter site. When I came down, a man yelled at me that I had a flat tire. It didn’t feel flat, but I got out to take a look just in case. I’m glad I did. It was REALLY low. That tire has a very slow leak and needs air about every two weeks. This seemed a little sudden but I was right next to a gas station. I pulled in to see if their air compressor happened to be working, but just as I got close, someone whipped around me and pulled into the air station in front of me. Guess I wasn’t driving crazy enough to get there in time. 
I thought about waiting, but decided I wanted to see my friend Mark Elwin anyway. So I drove the extra few blocks to his repair shop. I asked one of his guys if I could get some air in that tire. He started to fill it and then said, “You have a nail here.” Shore ’nuff! I didn’t have a lot of time, but figured it might be better to see if Mark had anyone available to fix it rather than limping home to deal with it. He said, sure they could put a plug in it right away. So we went back outside to find someone and by that time one of his guys was looking for me to get me to turn the wheels so he could get in there to plug it. While I was talking to Mark, the worker had been getting tools and a plug.
I asked Mark how much and he said he wasn’t going to charge for a little thing like that. “Just give the guy a few limpiras,” he said. I spotted the repairman headed to the soft drink dispenser at the little cantina next door. So I went over and bought him a bottle of orange pop. The whole thing probably took 10-15 minutes.
Speaking of Mark, we had a nice time Friday night at his daughter Kaiulani’s “Sweet Sixteen” birthday party. The Spanish speaking people have Quince partys to celebrate their daughters’ 15th birthday and the English speaking people usually celebrate the 16th birthday. This party celebrates the leaving behind of her childhood and entering the world as a woman. So that’s why you see Kaiulani on a swing – it is her “last time” to have her Daddy push her on the swing.
(Just as a side note: most families, English or Spanish alike, also make a big deal on the 1st birthday as well. That’s because it used to be that many kids here, as in many impoverished areas of the world, din’t make it that far.)
The Sweet Sixteen party was very formal, as you might expect. The teens were all in gowns and tuxedos and they were all announced as they came down the aisle to the platform. It was very also well organized, much like a wedding, especially with the father escorting his daughter down the aisle. At the end there was a short dance with the dad and daughter dancing first, but other formal pairings, again much like a wedding. I guess there were around 250 guests there.
We saw lots of friends but spent most of the evening with our neighbors Sam and Myril Grant. We live just two houses apart, but we don’t get to spend a lot of time with each other. Sam is about the same age as Mildred’s dad and reminds me of him in many ways even though they don’t look anything alike. I love listening to Sam’s stories of the “old days” when there were almost no cars here. Travel was all by foot, horseback or boat. Sam worked for the first airline to serve the island and walked several miles to work. He and Myril used to walk several miles to church every Sunday as well. She said it would take them about an hour-and-a -half to get there. All in all, it was a very pleasant evening.
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Neat bit of Island culture – i.e. the swing. Always very interesting.
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