Kenan Knieriem: A Celebration of Life

Andrew's PopPop had a brother named John, who after serving in the military in both Germany and Japan, retired in New Jersey and had a family with his wife, Helen. They were parents to John Jr, Guy, Jane, and Kenan. Kenan Knieriem was the baby of the family and was a soccer star throughout high school. When he came to be an adult, he attended the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland where he played varsity soccer as a Freshman. He won both leadership awards as a senior and is the sixth all-time most scoring player to ever attend the Naval Academy. He did his active duty time at Pearl Harbor and this is when he fell in love with Hawaii.

And Hawaii was where I fell in love with him.

Before Andrew moved to Hawaii in March 2010, Andrew's Dad send an email to Kenan letting him know that a Knieriem was moving to the island. Prior to this email, Chris and Kenan had only seen each other twice in their lives. This; however, did not stop Kenan from picking Andrew up at the airport in the late evening and driving him to base. This also didn't stop him from kidnapping Andrew for a weekend of resort hopping and seeing the best of Hawaii. When I moved shortly after, I had the privilege of meeting his son, Keno, and getting to know Kenan as our Island Dad. Whenever we needed help, we knew we could count on him. He was Hawaii. He was Aloha.

Tragically, he passed this September and I've hardly had a nerve to write about it.

My favorite memory of Kenan was the day Ellie was born. We were 6,000 miles from any of our family members and now had this little stranger to take care of. I was laying in the hospital bed, about 8 hours into EB's life when he walked into the room carrying two dozen pink roses. He kept telling me that "You did it. You deserve all the credit." I kept seeing the glimmer in his eye as if it were his own baby, and I could hear him saying the same words to Judy [his first wife] whenever their children were born. He was the first relative to meet our daughter. He was the first congratulations. I wish I remembered more of that conversation, but the pain from my procedure was outrageous and I fell in and out of consciousness. He would take us on harbor cruises and tell stories about his favorite fishing spots.

I've never fallen more in love with a person so quickly as I did with Kenan. It was instantaneous. He was love.

So, this weekend, we went to Cambridge to celebrate his life with his children, family, and friends. There was a fantastic slideshow and I met many of Andrew's famous relatives. Let me say this, the Knieriem's are a good time. There was a toast with MGD and plenty of hilarious stories, exactly the way Kenan would want it.

But, I woke up the next morning with a broken heart. How can he be gone? He was Hawaii. How can I move back without him there? We'll never take a fishing trip. We'll never go to the Sandbar. My Ellie won't get to see the man that greeted her into the world again.

I don't want to have to miss him every day for the rest of my life.

I just want him to be there. Lei in hand. Smile on face.