Luau in Jamul

When you marry a person, you also marry into a family. Fortunately for Julie and me, we both like each other's families. Julie might say she likes my family better than she likes me.

I became tight friends with Sam, who was married to Julie's sister Jacque. He helped me build a patio cover and with other projects, often convincing me we could do something that it turned out he had never done either. We also frequently took our wives and kids camping and river tubing together. Those were good times, but unfortunately Sam and Jacque weren't meant to last. Jacque re-married another great guy, Golfer Mike, and Sam married a great gal, Theresa. Sam and I remained friends, because, after all, I had even married into his extended family and spent time at his parents' house with his siblings, but we don't see each other nearly as much as in the old days when our cell phones were big bricks and our bellies were flat.



When my niece Kendra decided to have a surprise birthday party for her boyfriend Chris, she enlisted the aid of her dad, and between them, plans for a luau were born. Sam and Theresa had just downsized back to what had been a rental unit, a small house sitting on a big chunk of ground in the countryside of Jamul, California. As an entrepreneur who must worry about all those laws, regulations and taxes coming out of DC and Sacramento, Sam has consciously cut back, renting out his bigger house to supplement his finances and lowering his business profile. In fact, he has taken up tilling his soil, raising chickens and preparing to live off the land. He still, however, knows how to party.



With two kegs on tap, lots of other drinks available in coolers, and plenty of food, highlighted by tasty Lumpia coming hot from the fryer and slow roasted pig in all its savory goodness, nobody went hungry. Sam had also put up sail-like shades above his fresh sod and tiki faces on his newly built fence, giving the yard a South Pacific feel.

A disc jockey boomed out music behind the barbecue where corn on the cob and meat grilled.

There was a set up for horseshoes at the far end of the yard, and some water guns battled in the 100 degree sunny afternoon, but mostly it was a time for talking about old times and new dreams.



I was happy to spend a lot of time with Sam's other daughter Kelsey and her fiancee David, and even Kendra and Chris kept us in the loop, despite being surrounded by all their friends there to celebrate the birthday.

I met Paul and Annie, who had gone on a Southern Caribbean cruise booked through me with Sam and Theresa, and a lot of other folks closer to my age, including Chris's parents. They were all nice, down-to-earth folks, just like you find on a cruise. It was great to also see Sam's mother, brother, sister and brother-in-law, whom I hadn't seen in probably ten years.



Julie and I were gone well before sundown, but anyone who stayed into the night would be camping on the property, because Sam planned to lock the gate to avoid anyone overly toasted from driving.



We all had a great time, but as Theresa said, it was a lot of work and expense, not to mention the liability if someone had an accident after consuming one too many free beers. Here's the pitch: a cruise allows you to enjoy reunions and let someone else prepare the site and clean the dishes. Where in the world would you like to go? There's a cruise heading that way eventually.