Legal Commentary

One of the things I love about coming to Hawaii is that I pretty much stay on NYC time, so I get up at 4 a.m. (9 a.m. on da body clock) and have several hours of blissful quiet before the rest of the family gets up. Yes, yes, I know I'm a workaholic, but these days, who can afford not to be -- but anyway, it's one of the rare times when I can actually do mundane but necessary tech tasks, such as cleaning out my old e-mail & iTunes. And I can catch up on blogging!

Yes, yes, yes -- No need to nag me, I absolutely will turn the computer off when the sun comes up and I won't fire up the Samsung Saga either.

The weather in NY this winter has been particularly taxing, so it's a complete pleasure to exchange my waffle-stomper boots and the ankle-length down coat that makes me look like a football player for shorts and ridiculously touristy flip-flops bought for $8 in the Coco Cove gift shop at the Embassy Suites (a great place for families -- with large rooms and included "real" breakfast.)

We're here in Honolulu to say aloha to our dad, but it's truly an upbeat trip. Mom, all four kids (+ one wife and one ex-husband), and all five grandkids are here to celebrate his life. He had a great life, and yesterday would have been his 89th birthday. So we rented a sailboat and on a perfect morning, with quiet seas, and azure water/skies, under the flight path of HNL airport, we said goodbye and gave him to the warm Pacific Ocean. He must have liked it, because within minutes, a 747 (the plane he loved) flew right over us.

We then threw the flowers from our leis (after removing them from the string, which is hazardous to the marine critters) and it was amazing to see the flowers float and create a large beautiful circle. As trite as it sounds, it was soothing to literally see the circle of life created by the family patriarch. It brought home visually how this good man created a vibrant life and touched so many. The boat captain, Ken Middleton,  gave us the GPS coordinates so if ever we want to come back, we can.

We all laughed when we saw the name of the boat, "The Love Boat," and kept laughing and telling jokes and remembering funny moments with Dad throughout the voyage. He wouldn't have had it any other way. He would have been more than irritated if any of us starting "boo-hoo-hooing" as he would call it. If there's a common gene in our family it's most definitely irreverence.

Ken Middleton of TradewindCharters.com, was fantastic. My brother and I get horribly seasick, and I was really worried that I'd be contributing more than flowers to the sea -- but he offered a "homeopathic"  lavender oil concoction to put behind our ears. I was skeptical, but I'll try anything! I have no clue how it did, but it worked and none of us had any discomfort. Amazing!!!!!!

We ended the day watching the sun set from the Outrigger Reef hotel's boisterous open air  Shore Bird Restaurant , a perfect choice for a three-generation group, right on the beach. It's a fun place, a cross between a Brazilian Churrascaria and Benihana's (but you grill your own meat). It's loud and sassy, which prevents the kind of dinner conversations that can end up in skirmishes, always a good thing for any family. I couldn't stay up late enough for the Karaoke, but I expect a full report this morning from the grandkids. We toasted Dad one last time.

As my sister and I walked her back to the hotel, Mom summed it all up: "It was a perfect day."  It was indeed. Aloha, Daddyo.