It’s Father’s Day weekend, so since I’m both a father and a grandfather, the\u00c2\u00a0kids\/grandkids are taking me to bowl a couple of games and then eat the good food available at Aiea Bowl tomorrow.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0I really enjoy such outings, but\u00c2\u00a0in the midst of the fun, I also\u00c2\u00a0reflect (not often enough) on fond memories of my own father Melvin, gone some seven years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Above is a pic of dad\u00c2\u00a0from Father’s Day, 1965.\u00c2\u00a0 He had just returned from fishing and when he emerged from his shower, we surprised him with his favorite beverage (Primo) and a Father’s Day gift….a happy moment caught by a Kodak instamatic.\u00c2\u00a0 In memory of him and Father’s Day, I’m resending something I wrote for dad back in April 2011, before most of our active members ever joined our group.\u00c2\u00a0 I hope it honors both him and the special fathers in all our lives.<\/p>\n
Well, he’s left the building and gone on to new adventures, I’m sure.\u00c2\u00a0 He was one of a kind and had a winning smile that could light up the room.\u00c2\u00a0 My earliest memories of him are as a kind of Superman\/Charles Atlas, able to carry me and five of my cousins; one on each limb with room for the fifth,\u00c2\u00a0hanging onto his neck.\u00c2\u00a0 He also entertained us with several “magic tricks”; making a quarter disappear from his fingers, swallowing a lit cigarette and having it reappear,\u00c2\u00a0and blowing\u00c2\u00a0a smoke ring through a smoke ring.\u00c2\u00a0 He was a wealth of useful information to a 4-year-old, especially during emergencies.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0I remember running up to him, my little hand on my mouth, complaining of my first toothache.\u00c2\u00a0 He looked up from his\u00c2\u00a0coffee and newspaper, and\u00c2\u00a0sagely told me to brush the affected tooth briskly with a toothbrush and some of our Ipana toothpaste – and it actually worked!…for a few minutes, at least.\u00c2\u00a0 I always felt safe when he was around, an aura of strength and confidence\u00c2\u00a0surrounded him.\u00c2\u00a0 He was so wise, he didn’t want to spoil me by\u00c2\u00a0merely giving me the answers to my unending questions.\u00c2\u00a0 So, he and my mom made the\u00c2\u00a0huge investment in the large 24-volume set of the World Book\u00c2\u00a0Encyclopedia (no\u00c2\u00a0computers or Googling\u00c2\u00a0back then) when I was 9 years old.\u00c2\u00a0 And when\u00c2\u00a0I had a hard time going to sleep\u00c2\u00a0one night, he wisely told me, “….Go read the encyclopedia, that’s what it’s for.”\u00c2\u00a0 I flipped open volume\u00c2\u00a0“A” and within an hour, I was fast asleep.\u00c2\u00a0 I ended up reading\u00c2\u00a0every\u00c2\u00a0one of those shiny, red pseudo-leather volumes, richly illustrated, until I closed the last page on volume W-X-Y-Z\u00c2\u00a0about a year\u00c2\u00a0later.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Dad was right again, and\u00c2\u00a0I suppose that we\u00c2\u00a0were\u00c2\u00a0one of the few families to actually\u00c2\u00a0get our monies worth from our encyclopedia…I wonder what ever happened to the World Book, Grolier\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, Compton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, and all the other encyclopedia companies once the internet\u00c2\u00a0became available?\u00c2\u00a0 Whenever we would ask Dad where all our brains came from (we were a humble family;), he would inevitably credit the\u00c2\u00a0gift of genetics…”Uh, it’s hederitary,<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0of course!”, he would proclaim.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0And Mom would chime in, “Yeah that’s right, it’s hereditary<\/strong>!”<\/em><\/p>\n He was a great fisherman, regularly providing squid and mullet to friends, family and neighbors.\u00c2\u00a0 The first time he took me along as a fishing partner, I promptly lost one of his prized spears within five minutes of hitting the beach -\u00c2\u00a0launched it at\u00c2\u00a0the first fish I saw\u00c2\u00a0in what turned out to be a deep, muddy outfall.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Exasperated, Dad tried to explain to me\u00c2\u00a0that it was a squidding spear, meant for prodding and poking for tako, not throwing at fish.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0We tried, but weren’t able to retrieve, much less find\u00c2\u00a0the spear.\u00c2\u00a0 Now spearless, I was relegated to “fish bag-boy” and had to quietly\u00c2\u00a0trail\u00c2\u00a015 yards behind Dad and his throw-net that morning so as not to scare away the fish.\u00c2\u00a0 Let’s just say that it wasn’t his luckiest fishing day; he might have caught a half-dozen mullet over the next few hours.\u00c2\u00a0 When we got back to shore to examine the day’s catch, we were shocked to\u00c2\u00a0discover that\u00c2\u00a0the bag was empty!\u00c2\u00a0 Somehow, I had let all\u00c2\u00a0the fish escape and\u00c2\u00a0Dad experienced a rare “white-wash” day at the beach.\u00c2\u00a0 In\u00c2\u00a0normal fashion, Dad\u00c2\u00a0didn’t\u00c2\u00a0lose his temper or yell or mutter.\u00c2\u00a0 It was, however, a long time before I got to go fishing\u00c2\u00a0with him again.<\/p>\n Dad toiled\u00c2\u00a0as a\u00c2\u00a0Foremost Dairies\u00c2\u00a0milk deliveryman for 36 years, rising at 2:30 am in the dark, to begin a long day of hauling heavy crates filled with bottles, later cartons, to homes all over the island.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0He wasn’t a professional or well-educated, but he always\u00c2\u00a0made sure to provide for the family.\u00c2\u00a0 He was full of appropriate, if\u00c2\u00a0familiar\u00c2\u00a0advice, to my sister and me.\u00c2\u00a0 On the importance of academics -\u00c2\u00a0“It’s brains, not brawn.”;\u00c2\u00a0giving guidance on career choices\u00c2\u00a0– “You\u00c2\u00a0could become an engineer, or perhaps…a financial wizard!”; on golf – “When you hit the drive, you gotta hit it straight!”; on football – “When they throw you the football, you gotta catch it!”; on\u00c2\u00a0local politics – “#%&*@ is fixing the roads because\u00c2\u00a0it’s election year, he’s a crook!”\u00c2\u00a0 Well, you get the idea.\u00c2\u00a0 He was opinionated and very honest, but not mean-spirited.\u00c2\u00a0 I recall when\u00c2\u00a0my son, little Matty\u00c2\u00a0(7\u00c2\u00a0years old at the time)\u00c2\u00a0agreed to play a tune for Grandpa.\u00c2\u00a0 Dad quietly listened to the short\u00c2\u00a0song on the piano, then took a deep breath and told his grandson, in a drawn-out exhalation, “Junk”.\u00c2\u00a0 That was Dad, honest to a fault (although Matty had played very well), and I suppose that’s how I was raised too.\u00c2\u00a0 Unphased, Matt kept playing and in time, became a very excellent pianist.\u00c2\u00a0 Nearly 30 years later, at Dad’s service, Matt would\u00c2\u00a0effortlessly play\u00c2\u00a0beautiful music on the keyboard\u00c2\u00a0for his Grandpa during the visitation, while Sensei Trisha sang the opening and closing songs \u00c2\u00a0-\u00c2\u00a0 I’m sure that\u00c2\u00a0Grandpa was pleased.\u00c2\u00a0 Dad\u00c2\u00a0never said much, but we knew that he always wanted only the best for his children and\u00c2\u00a0grandchildren – and that that he always expected their best effort, and nothing less.<\/p>\n Dad\u00c2\u00a0did not seem to have any strong ambition for himself, he was easy-going most of the time.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0But for his offspring, he always dreamed of the\u00c2\u00a0highest achievements.\u00c2\u00a0 He wanted to instill in us, strong character, perseverance and self-discipline.\u00c2\u00a0 In short, he was\u00c2\u00a0like so many other\u00c2\u00a0parents, wanting a better life for his children but unsure as to the best way to ensure this.\u00c2\u00a0 I believe that this was\u00c2\u00a0a major\u00c2\u00a0reason that he got me involved in the martial arts 48 years ago.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Through the seed and planting of his\u00c2\u00a0support, grew my interest in Aikido and then Karate-Do.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0I think it pleased him, when I finally attained my first black belt, and many years later, when his grand-daughter, Sensei Trisha also got hers.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Both my sister and my son also\u00c2\u00a0spent many\u00c2\u00a0years in\u00c2\u00a0karate, making it to brown belt.\u00c2\u00a0 My two nephews trained under me and also\u00c2\u00a0attained their black belts in Shotokan.\u00c2\u00a0 The many years\u00c2\u00a0devoted to karate and academics within our family were the direct result of my dad’s wishes for us.\u00c2\u00a0 If you think about it, our karate group\u00c2\u00a0owes its very\u00c2\u00a0existence in a\u00c2\u00a0real way,\u00c2\u00a0to his impetus nearly 50 years ago.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Exactly a month ago today, Dad gracefully and painlessly left this world to join Mom in Eternity.\u00c2\u00a0 He was sitting at breakfast in the nursing home’s dining room, talking with his neighbor one moment, and the next moment,\u00c2\u00a0he was gone.\u00c2\u00a0 In recent years, he would sometimes say, “I’ve lived a long life (Dad was 88), and I’m ready to go.”\u00c2\u00a0 And so, he did.\u00c2\u00a0 Dad was Saved when he was 87 years old.\u00c2\u00a0 Ironically, Dad never did make it down to the dojo to ever watch any of his offspring training in the\u00c2\u00a0karate dojo.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m sure that he’s watching now, and\u00c2\u00a0I hope that he’s pleased with our efforts – and with all of\u00c2\u00a0yours too.<\/p>\n Happy Father’s Day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s Father’s Day weekend, so since I’m both a father and a grandfather, the\u00c2\u00a0kids\/grandkids are taking me to bowl a couple of games and then eat the good food available at Aiea Bowl tomorrow.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0I really enjoy such outings, but\u00c2\u00a0in the midst of the fun, I also\u00c2\u00a0reflect (not often enough) on fond memories of my own father Melvin, gone some seven years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Above is a pic of dad\u00c2\u00a0from Father’s Day, 1965.\u00c2\u00a0 He had just returned from fishing and when he emerged from his shower, we surprised him with his favorite beverage (Primo) and a Father’s Day gift….a happy moment caught by a Kodak instamatic.\u00c2\u00a0 In memory of him and Father’s Day, I’m resending something I wrote for dad back in April 2011, before most of our active members ever joined our group.\u00c2\u00a0 I hope it honors both him and the special fathers in all our lives. Well, he’s left the building and gone on to new adventures, I’m sure.\u00c2\u00a0 He was one of a kind and had a winning smile that could light up the room.\u00c2\u00a0 My earliest memories of him are as a kind of Superman\/Charles Atlas, able to carry me and five of my cousins; one on [...]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1506"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2280,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506\/revisions\/2280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}