Ten years after the Family Honeymoon Fiasco of 1976, we celebrated our tenth anniversary. My parents had called and asked that we come down for the weekend with our three boys so they could take us out for a fancy Casas-style anniversary dinner celebration. Not one to turn down food, we happily accepted and planned our trip to Fullerton for the following weekend.
It was a fun time with the family as usual, with my sisters and their families and some family friends joining us for The Dinner. I actually don't recall where we went or what we ate because what happened at The Dinner crowded all the other memories completely out.
After the main course but right before dessert... you know, that point in the evening where my dad would order a coffee with Grand Marnier... in typical Charlie Casas form, the old man stands up, taps his water glass with his spoon and prepares the table for one of his speeches. This was not the least bit surprising because it's what Mr. CFC always did at a gathering. It could be in a restaurant or at a dining room table in someone's home. If there was some type of celebration happening, there was going to be a speech, like it or not. Truth be told, people usually liked it because the old man knew how to hold a crowd, give em a little wow or a tear and then leave them laughing. It was his form of art and he played it well.
So, my dad starts with the usual thank you's to everyone for joining in the celebration then goes on to tell the most embarrassing stories he can recall, and embellish, about Bob and I during our dating years and continuing into our married life. There were a few jokes told at our expense that embarrassed me and at the same time made me quite proud of the comedic timing the old man possessed. All in all, it was a pretty great evening. Then, my mother handed me the picture below.
As Bob and I stared at the two monkeys with everyone seated around us asking for a peek, we were totally confused and probably resembled the apes by our facial expressions. That's when my father asked me to turn the picture over.
My parents were sending us to Hawaii! They were keeping the boys and had paid for an amazing three island adventure for Bob and I. My father handed us an envelope filled with cash for spending money as my mother loudly announced, "And don't buy groceries or give it away. This is for Hawaii." That was my mom. Every gift she ever gave me was always followed by, "And don't give this new sweater to some homeless person." Or, "This is for you. Not for you to spend on those kids." Yep, that was Bernie, God bless her. Anyway, we were speechless. Even though this was typical of the extravagant generosity of my parents, it was always overwhelming to be on the receiving end of it.
So, a month later we found ourselves in Hawaii at a fancy, schmancy hotel with keys to a rental car. The day we landed was absolutely thrilling. We dumped our bags, changed clothes and headed out on our Island adventure. It was the best day we could have ever imagined and it was just the beginning of eight days in Paradise. That first night in Oahu, we dined in a restaurant on the beach and talked about how blessed we were with our families and our life together. It was really like living a dream that night. To think just that morning we were with our boys and my parents and now here we were in Hawaii. Amazing!
Our second day we went to the beach and swam, we drove around the Island to explore and hiked around Diamond Head State Park. That evening, we had reservations at the Kahala Hilton where a friend of my fathers sang. My parents had made the reservations and handled all the details. All we needed to do was show up on time, give our name and let the Maitre de know we were guests of Danny Kaleikini. We showed up on time. We gave our names. We told the Maitre de we were guests of Danny Kaleikini. We received a blank stare from the Maitre de.
After repeating ourselves several times, and the Maitre de responding with a blank stare while shaking his head no, a man's voice behind me asked, "Is there a problem here?" I quickly spun around to see my father and one of his friends standing there with massive grins on their faces.
"Dad! What are you doing here? Where are the boys? Where's mom? What is happening?"
As my mess of a father hugged and kissed me, laughing that laugh of his, the Maitre de suddenly remembered where our table was and led the four of us there with a big, stupid grin on his mug as well. Bob and I looked more like people in mugshots at this point, wondering what in the hell was happening. Anyway, the four of us enjoyed a fancy dinner with Danny Kaleikini coming off the stage and over to our table in the middle of it all. Mr. CFC had requested that our tenth anniversary be announced to the entire joint followed by an Hawaiian love song for the happy, shell-shocked couple. This was so typical of my dad and over the next two days of him dragging us here and there to introduce and show us off, I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time and I think I might have done both a few times. The funny thing is, this memory still makes me laugh and cry but for very different reasons now.
My dad was a freaking mess and I was so damn lucky he was my dad.
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