Thank you to the committee for the hard work and hours of dedication to our class of 1978. Their commitment to making our reunions successful and fun is rewarded by your happy faces and responses to the event.

Thank you everybody for the participation and fun.

Here are a few 'gratitudes' from our classmates and friends:

• Thank you committee and classmates for the wonderful friendships and fun on October 18, 2008. I am still hearing many compliments, and kudos goes to the great people on the committee. Audrey Suga-Nakagawa, Jaydene (Tanaka) Viernes, Marty (Shima) Mullen, Jayne (Saito) Takahama, Jamie (Arakawa) Apuna, Ramona (Uehara) Kogachi, Sharon (Kim) Chun, and Dustin Ebesu. Without all the cooperation and skills, the reunion would not have been as successful. Thanks to Jaydene for putting together the program and all the wonderful CDs of 1978 music hits. I am still listening to it everyday. Thanks to Marty for getting all the reservations for Koolau Golf Clubhouse, the chotchkes, the tattoo, fortune teller and numerologist. Audrey, thanks for your P.O. Box, organizing the meetings, the chairmanship, your father's gorgeous signs and your donations. Jayne, thank you very much for your hospitality, the picture boards, the bead necklaces, the sinful desserts, the balloons, signs, recruiting, your record keeping, organizing and wrapping the door prizes, storing everything, and family donations. Thank you Jamie for making all the nametags, the donations. Sharon, thanks for being a part of the committee and helping with phone calls. Thanks to Ramona for the beautiful orchids and all the phone calls you made with your sisters' help. Thanks to all of the donors for your donations and monetary support. It will surely help the next party to be successful. Thank you Ms. Reverie Suzuki for honoring us with your presence.

  ~Aloha, Dustin

• Hope the swelling in everyone's toes has gotten better, and the effects of alcohol are wearing off. But I find myself still, with a stupid grin on my face, knowing that it went so well. Thanks very, very much! Bus' ass ~ but priceless. ~Jaydene (Tanaka) Viernes

• hey, a great big mahalo to all of you who made the reunion a blast. i really enjoyed it all. was great to see everyone...again, thank you all for making it great! ~Dwight Sato

• Thanks again for all your hard work and planning. I had a great time at the reunion!! I wish I had more time "catching up" with everyone. Take Care......~Brian Matsusaka

• To Maria (Dasigo) Santos: Thanks for taking care of this activity (potluck at your house). I really appreciate your generous hospitality and aloha. Thank you very much on behalf of the reunion of the Class of 1978. I am sure your party will help to create fond memories for all who attend. I nominate you to be on our next planning committee!~ Aloha, Dustin

• Hi all, Thank you for all your hard work and doing such an incredible job on Saturday night. I've heard nothing but great things from everyone, that was way too much fun!!! Living away from the islands makes me appreciate all the wonderful friendships developed over the years. Thank you for making my time home so special. I'll see you all in a month. ~Take care, Marty (Shima) Mullen

• Hey All! Sounds like the reunion was a success....thanks to you all! Hope you all had fun! Our trip to Saint Mary's was nice....daughter was sooo happy to see us. We even did the breast cancer walk at Golden Gate Park with the entire cheer team...sorry I wasn't there for the reunion...next one! ~Sharon (Kim) Chun

• Dustin, It was so much fun seeing you and our fellow classmates I have not seen in a long while. Thank you and Jaydene and Marty and all the many many people that helped to make the event so special and also for allowing my Husband and I to be a part of it. Please let me know as soon as you do about the Vegas details. I'm planning already. ~Aloha Laura (Mollring) Sturges AKA Kelly Robins.

• Mahalo, I and my wife had a GREEEEEAAAAAATTTTTT TIME! "A blast from the past". Looking forward to Vegas. ~Gerry Lumansoc Seattle, WA

• GREAT job to all of you! THANK YOU for all of your time, energy and efforts. Take care and hope to see you next weekend (except Marty- see you next month)!~Jayne (Saito) Takahama

• Great job by you and the rest of the reunion committee! I had a great time seeing former classmates that I have not seen since the last class reunion. All my friends enjoyed the festive atmosphere of the night's events. You have not change a bit since our days at Lunalilo, but there were a lot of other's that I could not recognize. Boy we're all getting old. Best of wishes to you and the entire reunion committee, thanks a lot for your hard work in organizing the reunion. ~Russell Imanaka

• To the reunion: Please use the donation as you please because it's not much...I'm sorry it was late and I'm just checking my email now. I know you'll all have fun at the reunion tonight and please say "HI" to all for me... ~ Aloha from Ross Oshiro, in the Boston Area!!!

• Hi Dustin- It's great to hear from you. Bev actually sent me an email on the reunion. Hope you're doing well. It's been a long time since I've seen you. I'll be in Shanghai for a month and a half, after which I'll be back in Hawaii for a week or so. It would be great to get together, but I know that the holidays are not the best time to do so. Hopefully, we'll have another gathering before our 35th reunion. Keep up the good work in trying to maintain contact with our classmates. Keep in touch.~ Take care!Lea Anne (Hikokawa) Ng

• A special Mahalo to you and the entire MHS reunion crew! I finally got a chance to catch up and send an e-mail letting you know what a special evening that was with everyone who showed up! Everything was perfect! So much talking and catching up it was great! It is really a very exclusive club that we belong to: the MHS Class of 1978! Looking forward to the big Five-O in Vegas! Hail McKinley Hail! ~Achilles Gacis

• I'm a McKinley tiger too, (Class of 1964) and one of Dustin's many aunts!!! Website very impressive and informative...congratulations on your 30th!!! ~ Jane (Kaneshiro) Uyehara

• Aloha everyone, I had a wonderful time, a good class reunion and good quality time with you all. See you all soon. ~Kalei Degracia (via cell phone message)

• Wow! What an awesome night. Props to the reunion committee for planning such a night to remember. You folks did a fantastic job. It was great to see everyone there. Some friendships went as far back to elementary school days at Kaiulani and intermediate days at Central. I work at Koolau Golf Club and my co-workers had so many good things to say about our classmembers. Mainly what good people we are. Again, thanks formaking this a special night for everyone. ~Aloha, Ronald (Dumaoal) Godoy

  
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  Old Age, I decided, is a gift.

  
  I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror, but I don't agonize over those things for long.
  

  I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.
  

  I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.
  

  I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.
  

  Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?
  

  I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 & 70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.
  

  I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set . They, too, will get old.
  

  I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.
  

  Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.
  

  I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.
  

  As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.
  

  So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I feel like it)
  

  MAY OUR FRIENDSHIP NEVER COME APART ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART! MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE A RAINBOW OF SMILES ON YOUR FACE AND IN YOUR HEART FOREVER AND EVER! FRIENDS FOREVER!
  

  Forward this to at least 7 people and see what happens on your screen You will laugh your head off!!!!!!!!!

  Actually this is not even an email, so just enjoy!