Guests From Japan

Sam and Keiko are coming this morning. Sam and Art became friends when both were students at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. They met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Morris who were those very special, incredibly beautiful people who went the extra mile to extend love and understanding in this world. I wish there were more people like them.

I say, "I wish" because I haven't been able to extend myself quite as much as they did either. They took in foreign students from around the world, from Japan, Burma (Myanmar now) to some countries in Africa. Many of those students became lifelong friends with each other and with the Morris'.

The Morris' have since passed away as well as their accomplished, beautiful daughter, Sharon. This fall, we expect Sam, one of the Burmese students and Sharon's husband who is a minister to come and stay with us.

But today, Sam and Keiko will be here and we can hardly wait to see them so that we can show them some Hawaiian aloha. When we were in Japan, Sam bubble wrapped us during our time in Tokyo to make sure there were absolutely NO bumps in our stay. I just hope we can do the same. Unfortunately, we won't be able to provide nice weather. We're stuck with vog (volcanic smog), hot and MUGGY weather. Sigh...

Meanwhile, my mother is busy in the kitchen preparing her secret hospitality weapon, a crab casserole as only she can make it. We know that Sam and Keiko must have landed now and are probably on their way to their hotel. We're waiting for their call and can't wait to see them again.