PHOTOS BY GEORGE F. LEE AND FL MORRIS;
PHOTO COMPOSITE BY DAVE SWANN / DSWANN@STARBULLETIN.COMIf love can bring these people together, it must be some powerful stuff. If the too-tall, anal-retentive accountant can find lasting happiness with the tiny Asian woman in combat boots; if the vegetarian city girl can make it work with the taro farmer who loves raw liver; if the drunken sailor and the goodie-goodie girl can declare their everlasting commitment -- well, that Cupid fellow, he must really know what he's doing. Can you match up our
unlikely couples by putting the
right gals with the right guys?Star-Bulletin
These stories -- winners in the Star-Bulletin's Valentine's Day writing contest -- prove our theme, "Opposites Attract." Top prize, to Laurie Okawa Moore, is a romantic dinner at 3660 on the Rise. The runners-up will receive gift certificates for Kakaako Kitchen.
Now, to let you all in on the fun, we're going to play a matching game. We've divided our starry-eyed couples -- gals on the left, guys on the right. Based on nothing deeper than appearances, can you match them up?
Answers are on below in photographic form. So don't go there until you make your guesses.
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First place
By Laurie Okawa Moore
If not for a blind date, I never would have gone out with Bill. Now, after 10 years together (eight of those as husband and wife), I marvel at the fact that we are still a couple.Bill is a 6-foot-tall bear of a man. I'm one of those low-to-the-ground Asian women -- I scarcely reach 4 feet 9 in my bare feet. I know we make an unusual sight when we are walking hand in hand.
Temperamentally, I sometimes relish a good confrontation, while Bill avoids this at all cost.
When I first met Bill, I had short spiky hair and was wearing black combat boots. I took one look at Bill -- in his past-fashionable polo shirt and glasses that screamed "GEEK!" -- and thought, "Uh, no, I don't think so."
Where I was creative and adventurous, Bill was a staid conservative. My idea of fun was playing a gig with an African drum ensemble at Anna Bannanas. Bill thought watching "The McLaughlin Group" on PBS was an invigorating way to start the weekend.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM free spirit Laurie Okawa Moore, below, said her husband Bill penciled in 45 minutes of spontaneous time when they first met.
On one of our first dates, this anal-retentive accountant had our entire day planned by the hour. A schedule posted on his refrigerator included everything from my arrival time to what time he would pop the cork on the bottle of chardonnay. When I joked about the lack of spontaneity, Bill "penciled in" 45 minutes of spontaneity. I thought this was very strange yet endearing. With dogged persistence, obvious affection and lots of gourmet cooking, Bill eventually won my heart.
Love, compromise and an appreciation of our differences keep us together. What we find unbearable, we take to prayer, knowing that God can fix anything. I'm sure God must have a sense of humor -- he brought two unlikely people together and, in his wisdom, made us one.
Runners-up
By Mahealani Kamauu
First of all, he's a taro farmer from the wilds of East Maui, and I'm a city slicker, from urban Honolulu. I mean, he's a get-down-in-the-dirt, "I-love-the-kuahiwis (country)" kinda guy, while I work downtown.His favorite thing is to wake up with the roosters, coffee and cigarette in hand, and start on the taro patches before sunrise. By noon he's manicured the patches, planted, harvested, cleaned the flumes and made a run down to the muliwai (where the stream meets the ocean) to check out fishing prospects.
I, on the other hand, disapprove of coffee and cigarettes and sleep as late as I possibly can, foggy from reading the latest novel into the wee morning hours the night before. If I get to the office by the 8 a.m. starting time, I'm doing good; by 10 I'm just revving up and often work late to make up for it.
We have a long-distance relationship and talk by telephone nearly every night. By 7 p.m. he's already yawning; he's in bed and out cold by 7:30. I, on the other hand, am just getting started. I'm probably having dinner around 7:30, watching television or reading past midnight.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Mahealani Kumau'u takes a Honolulu-minute timeout for a chat with her country-boy hubby Ed Wendt who lives on Maui;
I love theater, movies, poetry, music. Ed hasn't been in a movie theater for decades, has no patience with "make-believe." He's a no-nonsense kinda guy who can frame a house and build it out from start to finish. He's a fix-it guy who's great with projects around the house and yard. He's a farmer who knows the soil and can grow anything.
He's been a cowboy who knows a lot about horses and ranching. He also knows about diving, spearfishing, throwing net, living off the land and ocean. He can wax eloquent for hours about different types of fishhooks.
Me, I'm an idiot when it comes to stuff like that. I love to write poetry and am an ace with office work, but put me in the country, I'm an embarrassment. Once when I tried to help Ed harvest taro, I fell flat on my behind, trying to carry a bucket over the slippery grass. I was covered from head to toe with mud; Ed worked all day in the taro patch and emerged as well groomed as when he started out that morning.
He's a carnivore, loves a good steak -- while I tend toward vegetarianism. He watches sports. I'd rather watch "Great Performances."
Oh yeah, he likes to eat local specialties like ake (raw liver), kau yuk (pot roast pork with that thick layer of fat), hahm ha (shrimp sauce), dinguian (pork with blood), loko (cow or pig intestines) and tripe. He likes to joke that if the food doesn't attract flies on the screen, it's "not ono."
He is, however, gracious when I serve salads and other vegetarian dishes.
We're both in our 50s, with 11 grandchildren between us. What's the likelihood of two old fogies, from such different backgrounds, finding true love at our age? Unlikely, one would think, but we do love each other with all our hearts and, as Ed says, "With all my might!" That goes ditto.
By Don C. Poole
Cynthia and I have to be the most unlikely couple. In our early years I was a drunken, haole, crazy sailor, and she was a clean-cut University of Hawaii college girl. I hung out at the Dunes while she was at the Point After.As time went on we both married. My marriage ended very quickly, and I had no desire to marry again. In my middle years, even though I had cleaned up my drunken-sailor act, I still chased the girls. Cynthia was married and had two wonderful children.
There was no way we would ever meet as she was plain, skinny and overall a goodie-goodie girl. I was a bachelor and had the bad reputation of chasing cute Filipino girls. Cynthia, being Chinese and married -- things didn't look good for us at this point either.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Don Poole, top right was a "drunken sailor" who never thought he and "goodie-goodie girl" Cynthia would hit it off
We coincidentally worked for a large corporation, but in opposite fields, I in technical and she in clerical. One day in our later years, when I had broken up with my last Filipino girlfriend and had noticed Cynthia was no longer married, I reluctantly asked her for a date. She accepted but had to postpone for two weeks because of commitments to her kids. I had never, ever waited two weeks for a date!
That was 16 years ago. Since our first date we have become the best of friends. We've gone kite flying, running, sailing, flying/crashing remote model airplanes and cycling. Both now retired, we enjoy golfing, walking and attending University of Hawaii football games.
In our quiet time at home, Cynthia does quilting, sewing, reading and beading while I work with my computer and digital photography. Best yet, we intertwine our hobbies, supporting and helping each other.
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