Jamie’s Gems – Living the Spirit of Aloha

Inspired by a recent family wedding, Jamie shares the importance of roots, home, and Ohana.

Jamie’s grandfather

The word Ohana means “family” in Hawaiian.  To my Grandfather, the patriarch of our family, Ohana was everything….

As my Uncle Norm (who technically I have always considered my cousin rather than uncle since he is only 4 years older than me, one year older than my sister and younger than my brother) got married last week in our native home of Hawaii, I couldn’t help but smile and think how proud Grandpa would be.  

It was a beautiful perfect day in paradise, the sun was shining, the tradewinds blowing, the palm trees swaying.  I know he and Grandma were present and looking down upon us from heaven with a smile that day.  As we were taking our enormous Park Ohana family photos after the completion of the wedding ceremony, I thought to myself wow… Look at all of us (and this isn’t even ALL of us!)… 

Some of the Park cousins

Look at this incredible family tree!  Grandpa and Grandma did all of this!!!  The Park Ohana is huge and so full of love, so many different personalities with unique talents and gifts.  It was such a huge reminder that Ohana or family truly is everything.  It is our foundation for everything, it is our history, it is who we are, it is our safe place to fall upon when we need a helping hand; it is THE most important thing.  Never EVER forget who you are or where you came from.    

During the ceremony, the Kahu (minister) named Kalehua Featheran touched upon the importance of Ohana, too.   He also talked about “The Aloha Spirit” and the deeper meaning of the commonly used beautiful word “aloha” by actually breaking it down to the root words that make it up.   We use the word aloha so commonly in our greetings, in our farewells and also in our expressions of love.  But during his ceremony he talked about how the word aloha means so much more, it is actually a way of life.  He explained that “alo” means sharing.  “Oha” means joy.  And lastly “ha” means life.  Thus the literal translation of aloha would be: “Joyfully sharing life.”  

Jamie’s parents

What a beautiful beautiful word, Aloha!  According to the old kahunas (priests), being able to live the Spirit of Aloha was a way of reaching self-perfection and realization for our own body and soul.  Living aloha means living in harmony, thus when you live the Spirit of Aloha, you create positive feelings and thoughts which multiply and spread over to others.  Beautiful right?   Makes an already beautiful word THAT much more beautiful.   All of this further reiterated the importance of living a life guided by love and kindness, knowing your family history, knowing where you came from and that family is truly everything.  I definitely am feeling inspired to learn all I can about my family history and to learn even more about Hawaii.   And taking it one step further, I am inspired to learn more about my mother’s side of the family (from Cleveland, Ohio) and their history.   

Know your roots, be proud of where you came from and always hold tight to your ohana…..Aloha!!

** I dedicate this article to my amazing father who I love with all my heart; he is the sole reason that the Aloha Spirit lives and reigns within my heart!  Mahalo nui loa, Daddio!  Aloha Au Ia ‘Oe.