From time to time, I’m asked about how many Hawaiian words I know, now that I’ve lived on Oahu since 1973 (forty-seven years)! I mean, you’re bound to pick up some of the lingo in common usage, and even people who have never been to Hawaii know the meaning of “aloha” and “mahalo.”

Aloha is the most common Hawaiian word and has several meanings: it can mean either ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye,’ as well as ‘I love you.’ Many people can immediately identify someone from Hawaii, because of their ‘aloha spirit’ — when I get on an airplane, I can usually tell whether the crew is Hawaii-based, or mainland-based, by the way they treat the passengers!

Mahalo is another common word, and means ‘thank you.’ I will never forget the way my friend Bruce Bengtson once mispronounced it when he said ‘thank you’ to a store clerk. He said ‘ma –hay – lo,’ and the clerk thought he was speaking a foreign language! (It’s pronounced ‘ma-HAH-lo.’)

This week I’ve had the chance to say “aloha” and “mahalo” to my good friend and BFF, Jieun Kim Newland, organist extraordinaire and all around good buddy. Jieun asked me if I could pick her and her husband, Ben, up from the vehicle shipping dock after they dropped it off. Because of a snafu at the shipping office, Jieun and I ended up going to lunch at Liliha Bakery by ourselves while Ben continued to wait for his turn; I think he ended up waiting over 3 hours instead of the usually 15-20 minute dropoff for a car heading to the mainland.

Anyway, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Jieun for her generosity with me and the people of Honolulu in sharing her organ playing skills with us. In addition to collaborating on a number of musical events and concerts, we enjoyed each other socially and even spent two Thanksgivings together.

And who can forget our Dueling Bach concert?

And the Organ Plus concert?

And how about our Organists 1-2-3 concert?

I also wanted to thank Jieun for raising the organist fees here in Honolulu. It is because of her suggestions that we were able to slowly raise the fees more in keeping with mainland standards. Thank you, Jieun!

So tomorrow will be my first Sunday at Nuuanu Congregational Church, Jieun’s former position here in Honolulu. I was supposed to start last Sunday, but then the service got cancelled because of Hurricane Douglas, which ended up missing the Hawaiian islands by about 25 miles after all. (Whew!)

I just got called, though, by Pastor Jeannie Thompson, that after tomorrow, they are going back to only livestreaming services, and I will furnish a videorecording of the prelude and postlude only. That is because the rate of coronavirus infections has dramatically increased in Hawaii and maybe it’s not safe to be in-person after all. Boo hoo!

Speaking of “aloha” meaning ‘goodbye,’ last Sunday I saw the obituary of Dr. Frank Tabrah, who died at the age of 100. You can see in the obituary that “he played the organ,” and I once visited his apartment to check it out. (“A visit with Dr. Tabrah“)

Aloha, Dr. Tabrah!

Aloha, Jieun! We love you!