HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2024.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! First of all, I want to thank all of you for being a part of this Kekoa Collective movement. Your patronage, your participation, your voice, your rolls, your every word are being absorbed and appreciated by all of us here at Kekoa Collective. I know some of you are new to the Kekoa family, so from your angle, you might think we are this massive company, but in reality, we are far from it. We are still a small mom-and-pop company that is still managed and operated by a few core individuals who still believe in the same mission we started back in 2009: to help build community across the globe to enable us to heal and develop our best selves using surf, train, and travel as tools of healing.

Just like many of you, life doesn't discriminate. It gives us tremendous blessings, joys, and it also gives us challenges, pitfalls, and sufferings. Sadly, no one is immune to this law of life. In our immediate Kekoa Ohana, one of our partner’s wives is battling stage 3 breast cancer at the age of 35 while maintaining hope for their 5-year-old daughter. Another partner is going through a divorce after 18 years of togetherness. Starting life over in his mid-40s is like learning how to walk all over again. As for me, I lost my father in my mid-30s, and now my mom’s life is slowly being destroyed by dementia and multiple organ failures. I am doing everything I can to be there as, now, the oldest son in the family to take care of her. Being 3,000 miles away, I can only be with her 15 days a month at best. In the midst of this, Jen and I are struggling in our 35 years of marriage, and we are back in therapy.

I have learned how to cope with adversity by reflecting back on my early years as an immigrant (boat people). One of the greatest lessons my father taught us is the power of Ohana. I remember the night we escaped Saigon back in April 1975 as an 11-year-old boy. As the seven children (from 16 years old to 4 months old) stood on the dock in the dark, he pulled us in a circle, and the following words have imprinted my mind forever: “…from now on, all you have is each other…I have no idea where we are going or where we’ll end up…we are now countryless, but we have each other…you might have more than one spouse in this lifetime, but you can never replace your brother or sisters…promise me that you take care of each other until my death…” Fast forward 8 months later, the 4 families, 22 humans that escaped South Vietnam, finally landed in the United States in a 2-bedroom apartment. The American dream began.

As I sit in this beautiful space called Kekoa Collective in Kakaako writing this newsletter, I cannot help but share the magic of GRATITUDE that has shaped my adult life. Imagine we find joy and are thankful simply by waking up with the sun…holding our parents or siblings in our arms…hiking, training, traveling, and surfing…having the basic needs of food and shelter! To me, gratitude is the gateway to happiness and to any long-lasting relationship. It eliminates the desire for all material possessions. It transforms and strengthens bonds in all relationships. It keeps us humbled. When the desire voice emerges and triggers my consumption mind, I remind myself how much joy and fun I had when the nine of us were living, playing, eating, and sleeping on cardboard boxes on 82 E Fedora St.

May this Thanksgiving, your family be united with love; may forgiveness and letting go be part of your family healing journey. From all of us at Kekoa Collective: Happy Thanksgiving, and God bless!