Saturdays.

*I was going through my old MySpace blogs and found this in the mess. Hella relates to how I feel right now...

Saturdays at Home

At home, Saturdays
are the best and
sometimes the worst
days of the week.

Usually I'd wake up
enticed by the smell
of early morning breakfast:
fresh, buttered bread,
hot brewed tea
and my favorite,
mom's koko alaisa (cocoa rice).

It was always mom
who woke up early,
every Saturday morning
to do laundry
to be dried by
the morning sun,
to cook breakfast
and read
her Saturday paper.

Sometimes,
when my siblings and I
didn't get up early enough,
we'd awake to my mom's scolding:
"Get up!
get up!
Moe umi so'o!
Wake up
and do
your chores!"

Immediately
after breakfast
fe'au (chores)
after fe'au
after fe'au
after fe'au
would follow,
which is why I
detested Saturdays.
Saturdays were made
for chores,
my parents would say
and every Saturday
they stayed true
to their word.

After the
morning fe'au,
afternoon fe'au
and (insert small rest period)
evening fe'au,
we would shower
and later,
overlook the day's work
while the sun set
in the west;
a cool evening breeze
to herald the
moon, stars and night.

Saturday Evening Lotu (prayer)
was important
mom said,
like every Lotu
of every evening
of every day
of every week;
Lotu was family time,
but most importantly
dad said,
it was
family time with God.

Saturday dinners
were flexible
because my parents,
exhausted from the
day's fe'au
(and from scolding us
for being too lazy to do our fe'au),
usually took us driving
around the island
and stop at a store
to buy some snacks to eat.

Later my parents
would retire,
but before sleeping
mom would say,
"Sleep early
to wake up early
and cook Sunday To'ana'i (lunch)
before leaving
for church.
Vaai i le mea e tupu
i le tama'ititi pe a le
vave ala i luga,"
She would warn.

"Good night mom
we love you,"
my siblings and I
would say (smiling, of course)
before turning on
the T.V.
to watch movies
and play games
and stay up late
exactly as my mom
told us not to do.

Like always
we'd wake up late
on Sunday Morning,
but that's a whole different story.

I'd give anything
to fall asleep on a
Friday night in Oahu,
and wake up
at home
on Saturday morning,
to the enticing smell
of mom's breakfast
and to hear her scolding us
from the kitchen,
like the beginning of
every Saturday at home.