Things That Warm My Heart

I'm half Hawaiian, though, I don't think I always look Hawaiian. Since I'm part white as well, I'm always told that I look so much like my mother. Not a bad thing, but I see lots of other Polynesians in our community and they look COMPLETELY Polynesian.

When I see them, I wonder if they look at me and know I'm Polynesian, too. I feel like we have some kind of kinship, both being Poly.

My sister is the most Hawaiian looking of us all. She looks exactly like my Tutu Sarah. There ain't no denying that girl's heritage. I, on the other hand, am a little more difficult to figure out.

I've got naturally dark features and generally a darker skin tone. People can usually guess that I come from some type of exotic decent but it's often been mistaken to be Hispanic. WRONG-O!!

I was at the running store a couple months ago, buying new shoes. The employee there helping me started chatting it up and joking around with me about how wide my feet were. (They are. They're probably the widest, flattest feet you'll ever come across in your life.)

He then started talking about a Polynesian friend of his that has drama buying running shoes, too, cuz his feet are so wide. He says, "You Polys need to just open up your own running store that caters to your giant feet!"

While I should have been offended for his remarks about my ginormous hooves, I was instead delighted that he could tell and knew I was Polynesian.

For once my big nose, wide feet, and massive legs aren't misunderstood!! Now if we could only do something about Lalea, the whitest Hawaiian girl I know!