Strange 2022

There's a favorite song of mine that resurfaces randomly every now and again.

It's a tune that made a home in my DNA from when I first heard it on a radio in the hallways of Waipahu Intermediate School back in 1975. It was a whimsical tune that took me away to a place that, up until then, could only be described as an alternate version of the already iconic Strawberry Fields. The song was Strange Magic. During significant moments of my life, when I was struck with an epiphany or a second of Buddhist realization, the song would magically surface somewhere. Either from the car radio or someone's boom box. Or, as it is now, it would manifest online in a YouTube video or on a show from a streaming network.

Today, life began early as everyone awoke and began to prepare for the day. Our hānai arrived in her truck and picked us up. My birthday party was set out, set up, and set on fire on a grill bought from Sam's Club that came to life slowly but surely. My wife planned the whole day and as the day progressed, people I loved manifested and joined the celebration of my latest journey around the sun. Of course, our children and grandchildren were already present, but the news cameraman and his realtor wife came briefly to gift us two pans of cookies. My baby hānai sister, her husband, and two daughters came and spent the day with us. Then came our dear friends who are family to us with food and a valuable bottle of whiskey, along with another dear friend who gifted us a bottle of nearly the same. And more, a family either we adopted, or they adopted us, two students who are dear friends. My aunty arrived, as did our daughter and her boyfriend. So too did my cousin and his family, along with our extended family and our goddaughter. Did I tell you that her father is a certified diver and her mother is a bodybuilder? Itʻs true. The point is that I thought to myself, what strange magic this is?