It was fun seeing all of our friends from different locations and different times meet each other and get along so well. We only wish we had more time to spend with everyone, without the business of getting married and all. Hanging out at Turtle Bay and Kailua was a good time. Got a little surfing in at Waikiki and Turtle Bay, too. The wedding party house in Kailua was right on the beach, what a great way to wake up every morning, taking a little dip with the boogie boards before your morning shower. And thanks to our families for hosting a couple dinners for everyone to get acquainted. It was so funny seeing my family meet Meg's for the first time, East meets Texas. By the end of the visit, everyone was hanging out and sharing stories, albeit with a lot of hand motions and some translation help.
Finally, when did I know when to propose to Meg. I didn't know, really. I always heard before from people that sometimes you just feel it. As boloney as it may sound, that's basically how it happened. The timing was right, my company went bankrupt and there was a lot of uncertainty in the air. I wanted to make certain that our wonderful relationship would remain certain. One night, during the time when I was still mulling this over and speaking with my Aunt Paula about finding a ring, Meg and I were out with friends in Nakameguro in Tokyo. After we left, were walking down a quiet little side street to get to the main road to catch a cab, we were looking up and gazing at the few stars that you can see in Tokyo and then...boom, we saw a shooting star. In light-polluted Tokyo of all places. We were both like oh wow cool did you see that and as corny and packaged-Hollywood as it felt at the time, I kind of laughed to myself and said, ok thanks I'll take that as my sign. I wanna make this lovely lady my wife.
Everyone began returning home on Tuesday and Wednesday after the wedding. Wednesday the 23rd was Tom and Naho's anniversary, we later found out. Happy anniversary guys! Meg and I flew to Kauai for a few days. That island is so gorgeous, definitely want to go there again. We took a zodiac tour along the Na Pali Coast and saw tons of dolphins everywhere and they came right up to our boat like 3 feet away from us. Most of them were spinner dolphins, the ones that jump in the air and spin like tops, they're so genki. The winter swell was starting to come in so we couldn't go into the caves unfortunately but it was a really fun ride. Coincidentally the two other couples on our tour were both newlyweds, from Idaho and Seattle. Afterward, we went to Waimea Canyon, the second largest canyon in the US after the Grand Canyon. I missed it the last time I was in Kauai with my family 20 years ago because I got sick. We ran into John and Gina there, too, my parents' friends who were also at our wedding. The rest of the time we just drove around and visited the little towns around the island, laid by the pool at the hotel, and watched the big waves coming in along the north shore. We easily could have stayed another month.
