Mischievousness and Laughter (by Miki)

Mischievousness and Laughter. Those are the 2 things that pop into my head when I look back and think about Reid.

My fondest memories are of us as kids. Every summer and winter break, my sister and I would visit from Hilo and get to spend lots of time with Reid and Chad. We always had a great time and looked forward to being allowed to sleepover at Reid & Chad’s house, where we would stay up late, playing and goofing around. We would play “war” or “army” where me and Reid, as the high ranking officers, would boss the lower ranking officers around and make them do push-ups (sorry Chad!). We would play Nintendo into the wee hours of the night, ride our bikes all around Kailua High School and go boogie boarding with Aunty Dawn.

One summer, our dads took us on a family trip to the mainland. It was our first trip to Disneyland, and we even got to go on a road trip to Las Vegas! I remember on a ride at one of the parks, we got to paddle in a canoe. Reid was sitting a couple of seats in front of me and midway through the ride, he started splashing me on his backstroke with his paddle. Of course I complained and whined that he was splashing me and doing it on purpose, and he just had this mischievous smile on his face... But as always, in the end, he made us all laugh and everything was forgiven.

I didn’t have an opportunity to really hangout for long periods of time with Reid as an adult, since he went to college on the mainland and then was in the military right after he graduated. However, the few times I did get to spend time with Reid, when he came home to visit, I got to see what a caring, generous and thoughtful guy he had become. And, he still had a way of always making people laugh and smile (or groan at his awfully lame jokes).

I wish that my son had more time with his Uncle Reid, as I’m sure they would’ve had a great time getting into trouble doing mischievous things together. I miss his smile. I even miss his lame jokes... but most of all I miss his laughter.

Love, Miki