Today, May 15, would have been Mark’s 50th birthday.  It is still hard for me to believe he is gone, even though it has been 7 months.

I am posting the video that my friend Cinda took of his paddle out in November.  I am not a good video editor, that was his department, but you can see everyone going out and forming the circle for the ceremony, then paddling back in.  Actually, a lot of people went for a bit of a surf session before coming in, which is exactly what he would have done 🙂

You can hear the sound of the surf, which he loved.  I also included his favorite Hawaiian song, “Little Grass Shack“.  He mostly liked it because of the phrase ‘and the humuhumunukunukuapua’a go swimming by…’  The second half is the Hawaiian song of Farewell “Aloha ʻOe” (Farewell to Thee).  It is Queen Liliʻuokalani’s most famous song and a common cultural symbol for Hawaii.

Lastly, I’ve included a few of my favorite pictures of him and us, as well as one of the many surf videos he made. You can see them all on vimeo.

He lived his 49 years of life to the fullest!

Hau`oli la Hanau and Aloha ‘Oe, Mark.

(click any photo for a slide show!)