You can hardly get through a day on the Big Island without mentioning, or overhearing someone else make an ohana reference. It’s who we are here, maybe the central core of the island culture.
The skeptic in a journalist sometimes wonders how often people truly live the meaning of ohana and how many reference the word because it’s convenient.
And then you run into someone whose entire family is a living description of what the word means and you feel a kind of warmth and understanding that washes away any doubt. It’s a beautiful thing any time, but especially this time of year when we all tend to consider of the meaning of our own family, what we take and what we give.