Kealohalani

Back when Lucky was still with me, I learned something very important . . . that middle names are very important to children.  Lucky was a kid-magnet . . . no matter where we went, children would flock to her . . . and they would soon begin to pepper me with all sorts of questions.  They would ask if Lucky ever got "time-outs", if she had sleep-overs at her house, what her favorite snack was and most importantly, what her middle name was.  For many years, Lucky didn't have a middle name and the kids were always so disappointed when I didn't have an answer for that particular question.  Eventually we (the kids at the park and I) picked a middle name for Lucky . . . Rose.   It seemed to make everyone, including Lucky, happy that her name was finally complete.

Since I am coming up on the one year anniversary of bringing Kino home from the shelter, I have been thinking it's about time to find a middle name for him.  I don't know what the origins of Kino are but to me it has always sounded Hawaiian . . . maybe it was the crush I had at eighteen on a Hawaiian guy named Kimo.  :-)

One of my best friends from college, Natalie, is Hawaiian, so I consulted her to get some help. She said that Hawaiians believe that your name represents your "mana" - your spirit, essence, power . . . so she suggested I keep that in mind when picking a name for Kino.

I searched through pages and pageds of Hawaiian names and one in particular kept grabbing my attention - Kealoha, which means "Loved one." That felt very appropriate to me - as he truly is a "loved one" who helped me open my heart again.  Natalie explained that when you add "Lani" to a name, it means "from heaven" and that resonated with me as well.

Even though I thought I was just fostering Kino in the beginning, clearly someone else knew that he was meant to be with me . . . there were so many things that made it feel as if our coming together was divinely orchestrated.  I sensed "loved one from heaven" was the perfect name to describe Kino's "mana" . . . and so he is now officially Kino Kealohalani Burkley.

Apparently, he likes his new middle name because when I say it to him, he cocks his head slightly, his face softens and then he starts to wag his tail.  Part of me wonders if he and I ought to move to Hawaii. I've been feeling a pull lately to make a change and Hawaii is one of the only other places besides California that I could see myself living.  We'll have to wait and see what unfolds . . . . you just never know where your journey will take you next . . . but if we did move there, at least Kino would have an appropriate middle name for our new home.