Moving on, and up...literally.

Don't let his good looks fool you, he's smart too.  ;-D  My favorite middle brother graduated from nursing school last weekend, and here we are, celebrating 3 years of hard work, dedication, procrastination, a near drop-out, luck, and in the end, success.

I'm not going to embarrass him with all the fun childhood memories about the boy who let his sisters put him in a mu'umu'u on occasion, or the boy who teased a sister worker about how she pronounced his name and wouldn't quit until he got spanked.  [There seems to be an argument about exactly which boy obliged on the first matter anyways, so we'll let that one be.]  I would rather highlight his awesomeness - like the fact he was class president, an honor student, homecoming king, and can play pretty much any sport like it's no sweat [although I will note that I have watched him play volleyball maybe once - for some reason he doesn't like for us to watch, another testament to his humility].  And how he spent a whole year and a half as Kawena's 'Manny' while we were living in Washington, caring for her better than I expected, honestly.  Or how he undertook the immense task of nursing school with style and grace, pushing through obstacles and making it happen.  Yes, Kale!  YOU did it!
 

I'll end with this little gem:
We are in Target, I am pushing Kawena along in the wagon, and she accidentally spills an icee down her shirt.  She's panicked - crying, and has her arms extended to me.  I struggle down the aisle, one hand keeping her pinned in the wagon and the other steering rapidly toward the paper towels.  Kale stops me and picks her right up, obviously not concerned (as if it mattered) with the icee mess he consequently has all over his shirt.  As her cries soften in to whimpers and she settles her head into his shoulder, finally comforted, the thought occurs to me: "Ok, that's what I was supposed to do."

Go get 'em Kale.  The world (and patients) a'waiting.  I love you!