Astonished she was!

Drinking in the scene

With mouth wide open –

Her eyes echoed surprise…

That met her at the door.

Sisters hoot with delight

At their clever concealment.

Festooned in aloha spirit

They lasso her with fragrant

And riotous colored leis.

She can’t  quite believe it!

Yet here we are in her island kitchen

Sipping lime mojitos and going on

As if it’s a daily occurence.

Every embrace,

Delivered with valid affection.

For the friendships developed

Are true.

Daughter, husband, sisters, brother –

La familia rose to the challenge.

Girlfriends, cryptic  in their plans

to divert her attention

away from the veiled truth.

 

A delectable feast awaits  us

On the blossom-strewn  lanai.

Memorabilia enhanced décor

Augments our sense of wonder

As we appreciate the efforts

To disclose their capacity of love to

sister, mother, bride and friend –

Entirely!

Dewey eyes, expansive smiles

Speak volumes of affection for our girl,

Now (a youthful) 70.

Pay no mind to the number  

A condition fraught upon us by desperate persons

Eager to explain aching joints and graying of hair.

It’s all in the mind (and soul), I say.

And why would we want to return

To  times when we sought an identity,

Adapting  life’s lessons along the way?

We laugh at past follies

And cringe at some choices

But in the end…we are all here

Exultant to no end!

We  celebrate the blessed abundance

of Joann’s exceptional  ‘curriculum vitae’.