Kari’s first journal

Evan left for the Philippines today. There was a build up of stress prior to him leaving because there was so much to do. A lot of work to cram in before he left so that things wouldn’t just be in limbo. My goal was to finish things that I might have questions on prior to him leaving. This is the first time that I have to put together an order for Bubble Tea Supply and manage all facets of it. It was a lot of stress because it wasn’t just an order, it was a CONTAINER! Evan is the type of person that just does things but doesn’t necessarily document it to pass on to the next person, so learning the process from him was slow for me. Every step that he told me was written down in detail so that no mistakes were made. This took a lot of patience from Evan also because I had so many questions, even dumb questions, just so that I could understand why things were done a certain way. Sometimes I feel like I just have to question why things are done, otherwise if I think it’s a waste of time I won’t do it. Ever feel like that? Well, at least I now understand it all and have notes for the next time.

I wanted to try and go to bed early tonight because I’ve been pulling late nights. Late for me is 1:00-2:00 am. I know this is not late for some, but for me it’s late. I wake up about 6:00 to feed my younger one and am non-stop for the rest of the day, so it’s a full day load. Whenever Evan goes on a trip I feel like I need to pack for him. I know that I’m not his mother or his maid, but I just feel better. I feel like it’s my way of caring for him while he’s gone. Then when he’s on his trip, the love that I packed with his items are felt by him. It just makes me feel better psychologically, but it does tire me out. Well, I hope that he has a good productive trip. After figuring out the flight time to get to the Philippines, he really doesn’t have too much time in the offices. He arrives late Friday afternoon, then everyone will be off for the weekend. Poor guy, he’ll just have to loaf around and have fun with his two buddies.
So, this week we interviewed Neil Abercrombie. I’ve seen him on television and have heard some talk about him from locals, good and bad. It is always nice to meet someone and speak to someone personally. Our show is good because you get to be warm and fuzzy with them if they let you. They give their insight on business and often times share something about their personal lives. I love hearing about their personal lives because it’s so interesting to hear how people make decisions, how they interact with others and their thought process through it all. Neil was a very loving and nice man. I say that he was loving because we were recording and his wife called him on his cell phone. He asked if he could take the call while we were recording because it was his wife. He took the call and after his short conversation with her, he said, “I love you.” I thought that was so sweet. You know most men would be to macho to say, “I love you” in front of others, they would probably just say, “okay,” or “you too” or something with a hidden message.
Both of my sons have ear infections. I think it’s the weird weather. It’s super cold at night and the days vary from cold and windy to hot and humid. They’re on antibiotics, but man, they both have woken up in the middle of the night screaming of pain in their ear. I feel so helpless when this happens. But the medicine should help.
Lastly, today I had a meeting with the Meals on Wheels program in Honolulu. I have taken an interest in this program because I have an interest in helping the elderly. When growing up, I remember my dad always reminding me that when he and my mom got old and couldn’t care for themselves I would be responsible to care for them. He always said that this was a worry for parents. So I assured him that I would definitely care for them. This time hasn’t come yet, and I know that when it comes it will be very hard, but I feel like you need to appreciate the ones you love when you can because they’re not going to be around forever. I don’t have either set of grandparents anymore. Evan has a grandmother who is turning 93 this Saturday. I think it’s so wonderful and I adore her. She is full of gust and energy, and doesn’t like to sit still. Of course she has her elderly aches and pains, but I admire her strength to just live life the best that she can. Anyways, back to Meals on Wheels. Originally when I called yesterday to get more information about the program and what I might be able to assist in, I thought that I would deliver meals. This would enable me to come in direct contact with the elderly and share a few minutes of my day with them. However, after meeting with the lady, Chloe today, I can’t deliver. They have two delivery services, lunch and dinner. During their lunch delivery, which is between 11-11:45, I’m teaching. Then for dinner, it starts about 4-4:45, which is hard if we record at the studio. But anyways, Chloe and I talked more about my skills and what I could do and would like to do and we finally figured out something I would try to tackle. I decided to try and help them organize and coordinate in-service trainings for the volunteers. This happens quarterly and topics are open to anything that would help the volunteers with their interaction with the elderly. Of course I have no idea where to start, but I will learn a lot. I am pretty excited. So I’m going to meet with Chloe again next week to figure out how and where to go from here.
The other thing that I’m trying to get involved in is being my high school class representative. I only attended Mid-Pacific my junior and senior year, so I don’t really know everyone, just some. I was really shy in high school, so I didn’t have lots of friends, but I know enough (I think). Anyways, Evan always puts down my school because it’s not Punahou or Iolani, supposedly the best on the island, but I’ve grown a new respect for who is leading Mid-Pac, that’s Joe Rice. After interviewing the gentleman and learning more about him and his vision of where to take the school, I was inspired to get involved some how. I expressed to Joe that I went to Mid-Pac for just a short time so didn’t know a lot of people, but he said it didn’t matter and encouraged me to just get involved. So, now I’m trying to volunteer to be our class rep. No one currently is the rep, so I don’t mind helping. We’ll see how it pans out. J
Well, that’s about it for now, for the week. I look forward to tomorrow since it starts the weekend. But just having Evan’s presence away makes me feel a bit empty and lonely. But that’s okay because distance makes the heart grow fonder…I hope that’s true J It makes my heart grow fonder. Anyway, that’s it. Good night.