As he pours himself a cup, the aroma reminds him of a time when everything seemed simple and safe.
He remembers when his grandparents had coffee early in the morning, while his dad and mom were already gone to work.
Living at grandma's house in Waipahu were grand times for Dean. His cousins would come over every week and including the neighbors, there was no shortage of kids to play with.
"Hey Deanie? You like some coffee?"
Grandpa Johnny's smile reminded Dean sort of a Filipino Clark Gable, or maybe it was how his eyes smiled too.
Grandpa pours some coffee into a cup and adds some cream and sugar, making it taste so great.
Grandpa lights up a cigarette and mixed with the smell of coffee, always brings back memories of home on the island.
But then so does the sun on his face and salty ocean breezes, or even wet asphalt after a fresh rain.
Hawaii in 1975 was warm and peaceful. Birthdays, holidays, weddings, going to church, potlucks and family get togethers seemed endless.
You could see little five year old kids running around and playing the streets with no parents around at all.
Dean remembers an earlier time in Ewa, when he and his cousin Lonnie, led by uncle Abel who was about 10 at the time. Would travel to a nearby school to play basketball and ride skateboards.
"They made us run on foot behind them and finally ride the skateboards when we got to the school", Dean recalls.
Dean and Lonnie rode around on the skateboards with one knee and pushed the ground with the other foot, occasionally trying to stand and ride at times. Only to find that the ground is really hard when you slam into it.
Ewa Beach is where Dean's grandparents on his dad's side lived. They were more carefree when it came to babysitting kids.
"My grandparents in Ewa were avid SDA's who didn't eat pork, smoke, drink alcohol and we couldn't go swimming during the Sabbath, even if we were having potluck on the beach! Man that was a rip.."
"I learned at an early age, that there are benefits to living all over the place."
"If I wanted carefree unsupervised fun I can have it.. and if I wanted to swim on Sabbath or eat pork, I could do that too!"
"It was always just a matter of where and when.."
Waipahu
Back in Waipahu, Dean had a Japanese neighbor named Jason.
Jason taught Dean how to ride Jason's bike.
"It was a yellow Schwinn, with a banana seat and brakes when you pushed backwards on the pedals", Dean remembers clearly.
"We took turns riding that bike every chance I had".
"I remember the first time I got on that thing, I was scared and excited at the same time".
"Jason helped me balance the bike until I got enough momentum to ride on my own. The funny part is that I don't recall ever falling off the thing, even though I probably did".
"It was amazing when I was able to ride that yellow Schwinn on my own, I felt like I could do anything!"
Life in 1975 wasn't all good times either, but you have to take the good with the bad.
And sometimes it feels like they can be one in the same..
See what the smell of coffee can do?
Add some cigarette smoke and see what happens!
