Mai Poina (Never Forget)

Although we already know some of the history behind how Hawaii came to be the 50th state, when I saw in the newspaper that there was going to be a series of costumed performers explaining how the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown, I felt we needed to go.  I confess I thought it would be something to blog about.  Here is a link to a National Archives Teachers Guide to teach this part of Hawaiian history.

We made a reservation for this past Sunday.  It's a good thing we did because the groups were packed!

Our docent took us to seven stations where we would meet costumed actors who would explain a part of the history to us.

From the very start we were blown away by the highly skilled actors' performances.  They took us back to 1893 when illegal and immoral machinations led to the Hawaiian people losing their monarchy and sovereign nation.

Will Ha'o as Mr. Ah Sing explained how Caucasians took away his right (along with all other non-whites) to vote. 

It was explained that the descendents of missionaries who brought Christianity to the islands now took away their kingdom that belonged to the Hawaiian people.

It was because those descendents considered themselves above the Hawaiian people and were motivated by the greed of the sugar industry.

The overwhelming majority of Hawaiian people signed petitions to the Queen not to be annexed to the United States.  Hawaii had already been recognized as a sovereign country by other nations such as England, France, Japan, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Tahiti, Samoa, etc.

This actress portrayed Queen Liliuokalani who tried her best to help her people who wanted their own constitution rather than what the businessmen had written up, taking away the rights of the Hawaiian people.

There was a rebellion and the Queen was accused of treason and held prisoner in the Iolani Palace.

She was told that if she did not abdicate, her supporters would be killed.

The businessmen (Provisional Government) then asked the United States to annex Hawaii  (they wanted a sugar farm subsidy which they couldn't get if Hawaii was not part of the U.S.) but President Grover Cleveland refused and sent representatives to Hawaii to discover those who were responsible for the illegal overthrow which he considered "an act of war."

The businessmen realized that they'd better withdraw their request for the annexation.  In 1896, the Hawaiian language is banned in schools.

The Hawaii Provisional Government now asked President McKinley for the annexation.

In 1898, the Spanish American war began and the U.S. needed a base for military purposes.

On August 12, 1898 Hawaii is annexed to the U.S.

There was this actor portraying a Japanese plantation worker.  Like many other immigrant workers, they supported the monarchy who tried to protect them.  Here Mr. Suzuki tells of white plantation owners who brought them over promising good living conditions and wages.  Instead, they were often worked to death and had to live in terrible conditions.  When one plantation owner heard about a worker who died, he was reported as saying it's a good thing it wasn't his mule because the mule was more valuable.

When Queen Liliuokalani heard about all these injustices, she forced the plantation owners to abide by the contracts they'd written.  Because of this, immigrant workers supported the Queen.

I hope I'm being accurate here.  There are too many details for me to record in this post.

I learned so much that I didn't know.  It was just all so much worse than I thought.

It is a terrible, shameful part of Hawaiian and U.S. history.

This all happened only 119 years ago.

I don't know what you can do to redress a wrong of such magnitude except that I hope we can all learn from it by bringing it out into the open so it doesn't happen again.

Still Worrying...

My son, Jon is beginning his post graduate work at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  Couldn't he have chosen a university closer to Hawaii instead of almost as farthest away as you could get?  I thought New Mexico was far enough.  Now he and our daughter, Tiffany are both over 10 hours (flight time) away from us.

Jon has been the source of more gray hairs on my head than anything else I could think of.  From being born in the elevator, to breaking his right arm, then his left, to crashing his bike, to Peace Corps volunteering in Mali and catching malaria, to fire fighting at Los Alamos, to now going back to school for graduate work.

You'd think I'd be used to life with Jon by now.  Besides, I'd already seen that I didn't have to worry quite so much about my granddaughter, KC as she entered kindergarten.

Still... after not hearing from Jon that first week of school, I wondered.  Was the school a bit too overwhelming?  Did he like his professors?  Were they nice to him?  Was the area where he rented an apartment safe?  Was he getting enough to eat?  Was he making sure he got enough rest?  Did he make any new friends?  Was he able to find his classes OK?  Was he taking too much of a load?

Then came the call from Tiffany. "I just had a nice chat with Jon, Mom," she reassured me.  "He's doing fine.  He's met his advisor and he's joined a soccer team already.  I thought I'd call you right away since I figured you were worrying."

What?  Me worry?

Then again, what's he joining a soccer team for?  Won't that take time away from his studies?  What if someone kicks him by mistake (like in grade school) and breaks a leg or something?

Sigh....

Maybe I should dye my hair.

Coqui frog Update:  We went out to listen for the mating calls last night and heard nothing.  Yae for now!

End of Life Wishes vs. Power of Attorney?

There's been an issue in the news lately that has caught our attention.  A 95 year old woman, Mrs. Okada has been hospitalized at Queen's Hospital in Honolulu with a feeding tube attached.  Her Advanced Health Care Directives state that she does not want her dying to be "artificially prolonged...and that her instructions shall prevail even if they create a conflict with the desires of my relatives, hospital policies, or the principles of those providing (her) care."

Mrs. Okada, however had granted her brother power of attorney in 1998 and he (and the family) does not want Mrs. Okada's feeding tube removed.

According to the Star Advertiser,

Two Queen's doctors then testified that they believe "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Okada will not recover after a series of medical problems, including a fall that left her with "devastating brain injury," followed by a stroke last year and a more recent bout of pneumonia that sent her from Hale Nani nursing  home to Queen's on August 8th.

Doctors say that if they remove the feeding tube, she will die in two to three weeks of a natural death.

Mrs. Okada's family say they see her eyes well with tears and she hangs onto their grasp when they try to leave her bedside at Queen's.

This was all brought to court by Mrs. Okada's family.  Judge Patrick Border says he needs a month and a half to make his decision.  Queen's Hospital says in a month and a half, the whole question will be moot since she will probably die by then anyway.  They feel the directive should be followed now and her wishes carried out.

When my mother was having her Advanced Care Directive made out, I told her that either my brother or I should be given Power of Attorney so that we can make sure doctors will keep us in the loop concerning her care.  She adamantly refused.  I tried and tried to convince her saying that several relatives advised us that this was something she should do.

Nope.

Mom says that when it gets to that point and it's time for her to go, she does not want my brother or me to even think about holding her back.  She does not want that responsibility in our power.

I haven't talked to her about this case because she'll probably tell me, "I told you so."

POSTSCRIPT 1:  Art just said we're not quite clear on exactly what that Power of Attorney means anyway so we can't make a judgement on this case.  Maybe that's why the judge is having such a hard time.

POSTSCRIPT 2:  Art said there was another article yesterday that had more legal stuff about this case and how that end of life directive was amended after 1999.   Whatever the case, Queen's Hospital has sent Mrs. Okada back to the nursing home with the feeding tube attached since the judge says it's going to take a month and half to make up his mind.

POSTSCRIPT 3:  I've just reread the article in the Star Advertiser.  It states that:

Hawaii has no required format for an advanced health care directive, but the University of Hawaii Elder Law Program provides short and long form versions that people may use to declare their wishes.  Both versions can be downloaded at https://www.hawaii.edu/uhelp/healthcare.htm.

Big Island Treats

One of Art's favorite cousins, Jane came to Oahu from the Big Island with her husband who needed an eye operation.  We picked them up at the airport, brought them to the hospital and took care of their luggage while they were going through the doctor's appointment and later surgery.

It was so wonderful spending time with them.  We were really stunned to see all the treats they brought with them from the Big Island.  (Some people are calling it Hawaii Island now also, but I'm used to calling it the Big Island.)

Jane had made boiled peanuts for Art just the way he remembered them in his youth.  She also picked poha (Cape gooseberry) and guava from their yard and made us jams.  Amazing!

There was Donna's Cookies from Honokaa which taste truly homemade.  They'd stopped at the Hilo Farmers Market to pick up some gigantic avocados, zucchini and sweet potatoes for us.

However, the one thing that had Art drooling and his eyes lit up was the large jar of rakkyo.  Rakkyo is Japanese pickled scallions.  It really is delicious.  I remember having them as a child too.  We've seen bottles of them sold at stores, but Art just doesn't think they'd live up to his taste bud's memories.  Jane prepared this huge bottle for him (us).  We had a very tasty dinner tonight and tomorrow we'll have a great breakfast with the sweet bread she also baked for us along with her homemade jams.

Yum!

By the way, we asked the cousins about the coqui frogs I wrote about yesterday and Jane said they hate them.  She said there are some evenings in Hilo when she has to sleep with the pillow wrapped around her ears.

I'll be going out to listen for them tomorrow night.

Coqui Frog Watch (Listen)

I didn't know we had the potential coqui frog problem on Oahu too, but I guess it is an all too real threat to Oahuan peace and tranquility, not to mention property values also.

Here's an article that came out in the Star Advertiser last week.  Apparently the Oahu Invasive Species Committee is asking people on our island to go outside out homes on Wednesday between 7:30 to 8:00 and listen for their unusual mating call.   They said their croak sounds like, "Ko kee".  We're supposed to call the OISC at 643-7378 or e-mail them at oisc@hawaii.edu if we hear it.

OK, I'm game.  I'll put it down on my calendar and listen.

The coqui frog has been driving many people on the Big Island crazy and affecting their home values.  I was hoping they could keep the frogs there, but apparently, the teeny, quarter-sized frogs must have stowed away on a ship or something.  Oooorrrr.... you don't supposed some irresponsible person might have brought them over as pets do you?  We do unfortunately have too many irresponsible people who brought over a whole slew of birds, reptiles, mammals, fish and plant life that don't belong here.

I'm kind of conflicted on this.  I hope we don't hear it because they are such a problem invasive species and yet I'd like to hear what they sound like.

One of these days I'm going to have to take another trip to the Big Island.

Teri Burgers and Dipped Cones

Let me explain one thing first about Buddhists.  They're not all vegetarians.  I'm sure you've noticed by now that we're not.  Art, Mom and I do strive to not consume much meat though  We try to have vegetables, fruits and grains take up 75% of our diet.

After our happy blood test results the other day, we decided to go ahead and have a McDonalds meal while we were running around doing things.

We tried their Teri Burger that we'd been hearing advertisements for.

It was gooey like the McRib.  In fact, it sort of tasted like a McRib with more soy sauce.

We scarfed that up pretty quickly.

Actually I ended up giving Art a quarter of mine so that I could save calories for the dipped cone.

Sorry this photo didn't turn out very well.  My hands were all sticky from the Teri Burger and I couldn't hold the camera properly.  I also bit off the top before I took the photo.

Yes, it was great!

We'll walk up the hill for exercise this evening, but it was worth it.

His Last Dance

I attended Art's 40th Honokaa High School reunion in 2002.  It was fun meeting his classmates who knew him a decade before I did.  It seems as though they knew a different person because he'd packed in so many experiences after high school.

I was rather surprised that one of his classmates was actually able to con Art into dancing the hula with him.  They made him wear a wig and several leis.  He balked at the muumuu. 

Everybody loved it... especially me!  I have very few clear photos because I was laughing so hard that I couldn't hold the camera with a steady hand.

Art will be attending his 50th reunion soon and this same friend asked him to do a dance again on Saturday.  Since Art would be returning on Saturday morning and not attending the festivities that evening, he happily sent his regrets.

Unfortunately Art's friend said they could do the dance on Friday.  Poor Art...

He says there are three things he does not like to do.  He won't sing, dance or play golf.  He says he's got two left feet and his golf handicap equals par.

As for singing he reminds me all the time about the report card that he got from his first grade teacher.  I remember something along the lines of, "Art is tone deaf and not able to carry a tune."   I saw the report card when visiting his parents.  I consider those words hurtful though Art laughs and says it was just the truth. 

To this day, Art likes some music, but he doesn't love it.

I think this experience influenced how I wrote my report cards.  I told the truth, but made sure parents understood that their child was still working on learning that concept... not that they would never get it because that would not have been the truth.

As for that dance on Friday, Art told his classmate that he would sit on the sidelines and cheer him on.  And maybe that's just as well because I can't be there to see it since I'll be at my own class reunion!

Kindergarten Jitters for (Grand)Parents

"Mom..."  My daughter's voice was strained.  "KC didn't get the teacher I was hoping for.  I think the teacher she got is not warm and fuzzy.  She's very no-nonsense.  You know KC does well with a loving teacher."

This was KC's first week of kindergarten.  I'm a retired 1st grade teacher.  I've always told parents not to worry about who they got on the first week.  Give your child a chance to get to know their teacher and the school.  Often times, although that teacher may not be the one the parent wanted, the child may feel differently.  I've said this and a LOT more, but this was MY granddaughter.

I did my best to reassure Tiffany that all would be well for my granddaughter and if not, there are lots of steps she could take.

Then it got me worrying.  What if it ruined KC's love of school?  What if she was damaged by an uncaring teacher?  KC is shy with strangers.  She's more of an introvert like us.  What if she retreated into a shell because she was treated too harshly?  What if.....?

I imagined her huddled in a silent, whimpering ball in the corner of the classroom.  When we talked to her on Skype on the 2nd day of school she seemed too exhausted to talk to us after dinner.  We figured she must be stressed and worried even more.

We got a call from Tiffany today.  "You are NOT going to believe this, guys!" she said in a stunned voice.  "I was at an ice cream social at school today.  KC's teacher told me that KC is such a chatterbox at school that she may have to move her to another seat.  Apparently KC and a friend can't stop talking.  She said KC is talking all the time."

KC?  My granddaughter?  Shy KC?  Tiffany asked KC about school and she admitted that she did talk sometimes even when the teacher was speaking.

My granddaughter?

Apparently KC is doing just fine and enjoying school.  Wouldn't you think I would know better?

Remembering New Orleans

Art and I were having sandwiches with muffulata sauce and it brought back memories of our short trip to New Orleans from December 26 -30th, 2003.

I remember us going to the Cafe Du Monde because everybody said we had to try their beignets.

Yes, it was good... wonderful actually!

We visited the d'Estrehan Plantation which was very interesting.  They showed us how the levees kept the water from destroying the property.  I wonder if it survived Katrina.

We tried the Po' Boy sandwiches, shrimp, and fish fry.


We took a boat ride on the bayou and saw alligators, walked along the Garden district to see the stately old houses, rode a paddle wheel boat on the river, visited the aquarium, listened to a lot of street music, enjoyed the Old French Quarter, checked out the New Orleans Mint and toured the Chalmette battlefield.

We went to Preservation Hall to listen to Jazz.  We were shocked to see the LONG lines to get in as we were leaving.

We took a tour of Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 and learned about voodoo.  We saw tombs of the famous and infamous people of New Orleans.

Our absolute favorite eatery was the Central Grocery Co.  They had the most amazing muffulata sandwiches.  We'd never had it before and the flavor was out of this world.

We bought a sandwich and ate it along the riverside in the warm sun.  It felt wonderful since we knew it was snowing in Chicago.  We also tried muffulata at two other places and they were not as good.  We went back to the Central Grocery before we left to return to Chicago, but they ran out of the muffulata sauce for the sandwiches.  We'd been standing in a long line and were really disappointed along with a lot of other patrons.

Several years later, we found muffulata sauce sold at Whole Foods in Chicago.  It's not perfect, not exactly like the Central Grocery, but like today it brought back lovely memories. 

Talking About Buddhism

To be perfectly honest, I haven't been a good Buddhist in that I haven't joined a temple and haven't studied the teachings in a long, long time.  I just listen to my mother who keeps trying to make sure I know the truths of living.

At the wedding reception on Saturday, there was quite a bit of discussion on Buddhism in different cultures and it got Art and me thinking.  What is it that we remember from Sunday School?

First there are the Four Noble Truths:
1.  There is suffering and challenges in this world.
2.  Suffering is caused by desire, ignorance and fear.
3.  The way to end suffering is by finding ways to understand and to not fall into the traps of desire.
4.  The Eightfold Path are the ways to to reach that more peaceful state: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration

One of the slim ladies at our table mentioned how she became a vegetarian.  She said she used to eat everything and then she decided to follow more of the Buddhist teachings.  She realized that she didn't want to eat creatures that share the world with us anymore.  She felt that she should be eating for nutrition, nourishment and sustenance, not desire.  After much meditation, she found that she no longer craved gourmet type foods.  She ate her vegetables with thought and care and became healthier for it.

Since she and our hosts are vegetarian, they had vegetarian dishes ordered for them.  It looked delicious!

All this was something to think about as they loaded us with all the left overs before we left, including the cocoa puffs.

Last night mom and I realized it really wasn't good for us so she and I took one teaspoonful of the chocolate filling and tossed the rest away.  Art said he didn't want any.  We all had watermelon instead.

On the other hand, isn't this wastefulness?  Ah well...  It may not be easy being Buddhist, but there's a lot to be learned and gained from it.

Wasting Water on Your Way to Hell

We went to a wonderful wedding reception on Saturday.   The bride is the daughter of a friend that Art knew when he was going to school at Bradley University in Peoria.  Jud and his wife, Shirley have since become good friends of both of us.  They actually live in California, but have family here in Hawaii.  Therefore, when their daughter married, they had another reception here in Hawaii.

I think everybody at the reception was family.  We were probably the only friends.  I think.  However, we were treated like family.  The bride, an accomplished lawyer, referred to us as Uncle Art and Auntie Kay which we loved.

Shirley sat with us.  I believe everybody at the table was Buddhist which was refreshing for us, even though it was Chinese and maybe Burmese Buddhism.  We had fun comparing the traditions of our many cultures.

We were joking about how Shirley always finishes her food so she smiled and told us a story. 

There was once a man who wanted to go to Heaven so he did all the right things.  He went all over the world to help others.  He was kind to his parents.  He never hurt anyone.  On his deathbed, he was convinced that he'd led a good enough life and would go to Heaven.

Imagine his surprise when he died and found himself down in another direction.  He asked the King of Hell WHY he was there when he'd done everything right in his life.

The King of Hell took him to a lake and pointed to it.  Still not understanding, the King of Hell told him that this lake was all the water he had wasted in his lifetime.

As we all listened to Shirley's story in rapt silence we were startled to find the waiter standing at our table with a pitcher of water.  When he asked if we wanted a refill on our water glasses we all shouted, "No!" in unison and then broke out in laughter.

What fun!

That evening, I took a very short shower.

Sunday Okinawan Festival

We had a wonderful time at the Annual Okinawan Festival on Sunday.  At first mom said she didn't need to go, but then changed her mind.  She said that she's such a homebody that it might not be good for her brain.  An outing, she felt might help to stimulate her mind.

Parking was VERY limited so Art dropped us off and while he went to find parking.  It was still a bit of a walk to get there.  We were surprised at how large a space the festival took.

Since Art said he would probably be a while to find parking we stopped at a tent of fabulous Okinawan exhibits.  The bonsai exhibit was incredible.  Mom was fascinated! 

Please excuse the many photos I'll be posting of the bonsais because I had too many to choose from.

This is a bougainvillea which stood about 9 inches high.

I've never seen a bonsai on a slanted slab of moss covered rock. 

I loved the shape of this tiny pine tree.

The remarkable thing about this bonsai is that what looks like a rocky mountain is the trunk of the tree.

Photo taken by me

Photo taken by Art

I couldn't decide on which photo to post so I'm doing both.

This is an awesome Candlestick tree and it blew us away.

Those are real seed pods and they look exactly like the candles of olden times.

I used to think mom was on the shyer side, but no more.  The ladies who manned this exhibit saw her interest and mom had a fabulous time talking to them about how her mother was an Ikenobo style Ikebana (flower arranging) teacher.

We watched a taiko (drum) performance.

This is Hawaii and you need to always keep hydrated.  These very sweet fellows came and made sure mom had a drink.  In fact, I stepped back and let her interact on her own with people who happily enjoyed talking with her.  I could see what a good time she was having.

We did, of course stop at the orchid tent.  Very tempting, I'm sure...

These lion dance performers were having their photos taken in front of Diamond Head.

Our friend, Rodney was there and he recommended we try the Pig's Feet Soup.

 

The yaki soba line was the longest and slowest moving at the festival.

Mom and I were really glad that we brought our umbrellas, not just to protect ourselves from the drizzle, but to shield us from the hot sun.

 

Okinawan andagi is my son-in-law's favorite dessert in Hawaii.  We got some in his honor.

I hope he appreciates us thinking of him.

It's always more delicious when it's freshly deep fried.

 Many people sat on blankets eating under trees.

However, many people also took their yummy meals home like we did.  Then we took a long afternoon nap.

It was a lovely day.

Wedding Reception in Ala Moana

What a strange evening...

Tonight my daughter, Tiffany and her family attended a funeral for our good friend, Karen.  When Art asked our 5 year old granddaughter, KC about it, she replied that she was going to a funeral for Uncle R.   We asked KC why and she said, "because Auntie Karen died."  Yes, we realize KC didn't quite get the concept that the funeral was for Karen, but then again... maybe she was right.  The funeral is also to bring comfort to the survivors.

We, on the other hand attended a wedding reception for the San Francisco daughter of a good friend.  It was at the Ala Moana Mall's Jade Dynasty Seafood Restaurant.

I think this restaurant opened perhaps a year or so ago.  Tonight they closed the restaurant for only private parties.

Here we are in our island attire... Art anyway. 

The incredible feast ranged from an amazing salad, to winter melon soup, lobster, Peking duck, ginger chicken, roasted duck, shrimp and broccoli,

steamed Uhu fish, some kind of out of this world rice, mango pudding, and a cocoa puff cake.

When we were leaving, we could see that the shopping center and the restaurants were full of Saturday night revelers.

Tonight, two of life's rituals were acknowledged.  One was to mark the passing of a woman everyone loved and the other was to celebrate the love between two people.  I guess, in the end... it was all about love.

Stuck By a Student

Let me set you straight on this.  I am a certified gutless wonder when it comes to getting needles stuck into me.  I have to get a blood test every 4-6 months to test my glucose, cholesterol, thyroid hormone and whatever else my nurse practitioner, Kathy can think of.  I do not enjoy it.

Today Art and I both went in to get our blood drawn.  We got our numbers and he went in immediately with me following behind.  What?  Did you think I'd go first?

He got right to his cubicle where the smiling nurse was waiting.

When I went to my assigned cubicle, someone was still sitting there.  The fellow outside asked me if I wouldn't mind waiting in the waiting room.

I waited.  I wondered why I had to since I saw several other seats with nurses who had no patients.

Finally, the fellow came out to get me and said I should come to another little room where I could have my blood drawn.  I went in and saw a nurse who looked wonderfully competent.  She smiled encouragingly.  I was relieved.

I sat down.

Then the fellow asked me with a halting voice what my birthdate was and what my social security number was.  That was puzzling.  Usually, they just look at my military card and that would be enough.  I gave him the information.

"Ummm...  I mean your husband's social security number," he corrected.  I'm wondering why he was asking me all this.  Why wasn't that very experienced looking nurse doing this?  Why was this taking so long?

Then the fellow asked me which arm I preferred.  Why was he asking me this?  I told him my left.

He moved everything so my left arm could be skewered.  Uh ohhhhh...  He then brought out the needle and little capsules that would be used.  Uhhhh oh....

Now  I was nearly freaking out.  I'm thinking... I'll bet this kid has never done this before.  I'll bet he might stick that needle right to my bone.  I'll bet he won't know which direction to stick the needle.

"Clench your fist," he said.  I could barely understand, let alone hear him.  Why didn't he give me that little rubber ball that they always give me to pump?  It was right next to him.

He tied on the rubber tourniquet while mumbling the sequence to himself.

"Should I stop clenching?" I asked.

"If you want to," he answered.  What?  Didn't he know?  "Is the table height comfortable for you?" he asked.

"Don't worry about me," I said faking a chuckle.  "Please make it easiest for you."  I meant that.

I reminded myself that I am a teacher.  I know students need to learn.  I have to give this young person a chance.  I looked at the nurse instructor who kept on smiling the entire time.

The student technician then began tapping the inside of my elbow trying to find my vein.   Sensing that he was really tapping a place that no other nurse had tapped before, I pointed to where it was usually done.

Then I turned away.

After more taps, I felt the poke.  It wasn't bad at all and I could tell my blood must have been flowing nicely because I could swear I heard a sigh of relief.... or maybe that was me.

When I turned around again, the capsules were full and I was ready to leave... but no... that wasn't all.  The nurse brought out a urine sample bottle with some sanitary wipes.

"Do you know how to do a clean catch?" he asked barely meeting my eyes.  I could guess, but I said no.  I could almost see his face drop to the floor as he tried to form the right words of explanation.

"This is for a diabetes sugar test," said the nurse.  "It isn't really necessary."

Let me tell you, I don't know who was happier, me or the student technician.

I smiled and told him, "You were very good."

When I went back to the waiting room, Art stood and asked perplexedly, "What kept you?  I've been waiting out here forever.  I got done really fast.  It was a breeze."

Next time we go for a blood test, I'm going in first.