The date didn’t hit me until sometime mid-day, as I sat in one of Honolulu’s federal courtrooms for Day 71 of the trial of Mike Miske.

It’s my mother’s birthday. Year 110 since her birth on May 15, 1914. It almost slipped past me unnoticed.

So when I got home, I went looking for a photo to post.

This one was taken after lunch one day in August 2002 at what was then the Honolulu Academy of Arts. As I recall, we had lunch and toured the museum in a belated celebration of my birthday, although we were more than a week late.

She was 88 and, at this point, still mobile and living independently with my dad in their longtime home in Kahala.

After my parents were gone, we largely rebuilt their house before we sold our home in Kaaawa and move back to Kahala.

She lived in this house for 70 years. Long enough to be grounded in the place. Occasionally, I get a shiver and sense she has paid a visit, even though her favorite chair is long gone, along with her prodigious stack of mail and newspaper clippings. But there are some familiar landmarks for her, like the giant bird of paradise plant she planted outside the front door not long after they bought the house in 1942. It’s still there, like a beacon, pointing the way in for any wandering spirits. The architect who worked on the plans for our extensive renovations initially suggested we remove it to allow a more impressive front entry. That suggestion fell flat, and luckily he got the message.