Hilo Days: Humor in My Own Mind

The Japanese phrases we used when we were kids in Hilo have stuck with me all these years. I wrote about them in my old Hilo Days website. Even today, when I hear people use them, I have flashes of memories of my youth. 

I Kill the Language

Arigato Gozaimasu

"Itadaki-masu." Please excuse me while I eat. As long as I can remember, we always used to preface our meal with this phrase.

Mom was a stickler on Japanese good manners (I guess she picked it up from her Mom) and made us say that before we ate. Didn't bother me at all.

Every time I said it, I would pretend I was saying "Eat a duck if you must."

"Ogochiso-sama." The food was delicious. We had to say this when we were done eating. Good manners again. I didn't mind. It always sounded like "Oh good, she's sewing some."

"Arigato-gozai-masu." Thanks a lot. "Never forget to say please and thank you," Mom used to say. Impeccable manners. I didn't mind. I used to think I was saying "Alligator goes high in March."

"Oyasumi-na-sai." I'm going to sleep now. Guess this was to let everyone know you were going nightie-night and not worry about you if they looked up and you were gone. Manners again. I didn't mind. It sounded like "Oh yeah, sue me outside."

With this wonderful insight into the Japanese language, is it any wonder that I just squeaked by when I entered Japanese School in the second grade.

To this day, this language game has continued to provide me with hours of fun. Sometimes a phrase would strike me as funny and I would start to chuckle out loud. People around me probably would chuckle to themselves as they watched me chuckle to myself. And they probably still do.

But I didn't care, and I still don't. They don't know what they're missing.

A Tribute to a Lost One

Mending My Broken Heart

It’s been a year since you got wings,

And rose into the cotton sky.

I know you saw me every day,

In lonely solitude, I’d cry.

The diner meals we used to split,

The warming hugs we often shared,

The silly jokes that made you laugh,

You scratched my back to show you cared.

The empty couch where you once sat,

The dining table has your place.

I see you everywhere I gaze,

The lovely smile upon your face.

You’re always present, ever there,

To help me cope throughout the day.

It’s getting better, not too bad,

The days are blue, no longer grey.

Now I sing the radio songs

No salty tears to blur my sight.

No longer do I reach to touch

You in the early morning light.

I must be healing in my heart,

I’m moving forward with my life.

A better man I am today,

Because I loved you as my wife.

(A 1-year anniversary of passing)