supabowlgang

Love & Marriage

"Each friend represents a world in us, 
a world possibly not born until they arrive, 
and it is only by this meeting 
that a new world is born."
~ Anais Nin 

Love and marriage happens, and the supabowlgang evolved into a core group of five couples.  Before the supabowlgang has seen it all, done it all, and can't remember most of it, this is a chronicle of  how they got together in the first place, likely of no interest but to the members of the supabowlgang:

• Aunty D & Uncle T
  
  Both are from the island of Hawai`i;  T is from Hilo, and D, from Pâhoa. They met and married in Hilo, before moving to Southern California.  D's grad school buddy at University of Hawai`i, Mânoa was Ann from Maui. 
  
  Thanksgiving 1984,  T& D drove up from LA to Northern California to visit Ann and her husband, Ed. Estelle, their mutual friend from their UH, Mânoa days, had also moved to Northern California; she too had visitors, who had also driven all the way up from LA.
  
  T&D and Don & Gayle met each other over turkey dinner. They could have carpooled from LA! 
  
  Thus, Ann, Ed, and Estelle were the catalysts who got the ball rolling for the supabowlgang and will always be honorary members.  Two months later, Don and Gayle hosted that fateful Super Bowl Sunday party in Camarillo.
  
  

• Aunty Gayle & Uncle Don  
  
  Both are from O`ahu; Don from Kaimukî, and Gayle, from Kâne`ohe.  They met in Southern California and married in Hawai`i. Gayle and Estelle were high school chums in Kâne`ohe.  
  
  Gayle and Don were Estelle's friends who came to Thanksgiving dinner at Ann's and Ed's with T& D.  Talking story, Don & Gayle learned that they shared a mutual friend with D: Les.  
  
  As it turns out,  Les' parents were  Aunty Yukie and Uncle Ronald  (Aunty and Uncle by Aloha) to both D and Don.  Don's, Les' and D's fathers were all WW II  442nd Regimental Combat Team veterans. Veterans and their wives were automatically conveyed honorary Aunty and Uncle status, Hawai`i-style,  to any of their offspring, as they were all a part of the huge "442 Family."
  
  Because of their fathers' 442 social gatherings and reunions, Don and Les were friends from their hanabata (childhood) days.  
  
  Don and Gayle hosted the Super Bowl party that brought the rest of the supabowlgang together, as well as Don's and Gayle's dog-kids, Taisho and Lani, with T's and D's dog-kids, Happy and Lucky.
  
  
  

• Aunty Millicent & Uncle Sid
  
  Both are from O'ahu, but met in California.  They were married in Hawai`i and soon adopted their dog-kid, Max. 
  
  Sid's and Don's high schools were cross-town rivals; Don went to Kaimukî High; Sid, University High. Sid and Don have mumbled that their meeting had something to do with a rumble over a girl.  They were on opposite sides of the fray, and it was over some other guy's girl.  
  
  What Don learned: ""Never hit a guy when he's down. He may get back up again." 
  
  What Sid learned: ""Never hit a guy with glasses; hit him with your fist." 
  
  Both learned: "The bigger they are, the harder they hit."
  
  
  "There is magic in the memory of schoolboy friendships; it softens the heart." ~ Benjamin Disraeli 
  
  Millicent shared a mutual friend from Hilo with T & D, from her college days at the University of Hawai`i, Mânoa, and in fact, right before they left for Da Mainland, T&D met Millicent at a party. 
  

• Aunty Lori & Uncle Les
  
  Les is from Honolulu, and Lori, from a suburban town in Southern California.  They met each other at Cal State University, Long Beach and married. 
  
  Not only did Les' and D's fathers know each other from the war, their mothers grew up together as classmates at Pâhoa School. And, Les' grandparents lived right across the street from D's home.  Every summer, Les and his sister, Eileen, would fly over to the island of Hawai`i to spend summers with their grandparents in Pâhoa.
  
  At Don's and Gayle's, Les and D reunited as long-lost friends; the last time they had been together, they were grade-school kids, visiting the Volcanoes National Park, running through Thurston lava tube;  playing mamangoto (playing house) with leaves for plates and flower petals for food; and baking peanut butter and sugar cookies with their Aunty Janet.  
  
  "Friends are born, not made."  ~ Henry Adams 
  
  Lori's parents live in the same suburban town as T & D and Steve & Connie. 
  
  

• Aunty Connie & Uncle Steve
  
  Looks are deceiving. They look like they're from Hawai`i, but both are from LA.
  
  Steve and Gayle were college buddies at Cal State University, Long Beach.
  
  Steve and Connie were perhaps inspired by the connubial bliss and dog-parenthood at that first gathering.  Within a short time,  they took the plunge. The supabowlgang was in attendance and partied heartily. 
  
  Soon after moving into the same city as T&D, they adopted their dog-kid, Kita.  

 

As you can see, by the time they actually met each other in person in 1985, there were less than six degrees of separation between them.

"Every person is a new door to a different world."
~ from the movie "Six Degrees of Separation" 

This kind of relatedness, by the way, is typically Hawaiian.  If you talk story long enough, you will be related or connected to each other, one way or another.  'Das why Hawai`i people no talk steenk 'bout each adda.  

"He who throws mud loses ground."

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Aunty D & Uncle T | Aunty Millicent & Uncle Sid | Aunty Lori & Uncle Les | Aunty Connie & Uncle Steve | Aunty Gayle & Uncle Don