STORY 3: Tiana Feels Like A Beautiful Kamāliʻiwahine
It was one week later, and Tiana still did not have a name for her dress. Tonight, after work, Mom was taking her to the dream shop to try on her party dress, and she needed to find a name. She was stressed about it all week long and even asked her mom if she could postpone the fitting. She didn’t want to disappoint Tutu by not having done what she was asked. She didn’t deserve a dress like that if she couldn’t at least do the only thing Tutu asked her to do.
Today she and Mom were going to walk along the beach to the dream shop. Her brothers would stay home with her dad, and it would just be her and mom, all by themselves…just like a girl’s day out! It was going to be so fun.
Mom came home a little early and they both set out along the beach. On the way they held hands, walked in the surf a bit, and talked about her party preparations. Tiana knew all about the party, but mom was being a little secretive and she couldn’t figure out why. Her dress was supposed to be her birthday present, but maybe there would be something more?
Mom and Dad were giving her a really wonderful party, and she felt very loved and special. She was the luckiest girl in the world! All the decorations were pineapple themed, just like her dress...even the cake! It was a pineapple-flavored cake with a pineapple on top. She adored pineapples and had helped her mom pick everything out. When she thought of seeing all her friends, neighbors, and family at the party, she felt so happy and blessed. Even her cousins from Texas were coming to stay on the island for her birthday!
As she and her mom walked on, she once again began thinking of naming her dress. “Mom, I have no idea what to name my dress and I don’t want to disappoint Tutu. It is so special to me and I’m afraid I’m going to come up with some silly name that she won’t like.” Her mom turned and knelt in front of her. “Tiana,” she said, “What is one of your favorite things in the world that you have adored since you were little like your brothers…and what is going to be all over that beautiful dress of yours?”
“Pineapples!” Tiana shouted.
“And when you think of wearing your dress to your party and seeing everyone else there, how do you imagine you will feel?” her mom asked.
“Well, I will feel like a princess when I have my dress on, but I will feel happy and loved when I am at the party,” she replied.
“When you combine all of your feelings: happiness, love…and blessed, of course, what are you feeling – what do we say we feel when we feel like that?”
“Aloha!” Tiana shouted. “I feel the Aloha!” And Tiana jumped up and down and spun around and looked up at her mom and said, “The name of my dress is THE ALOHA PINEAPPLE PARTY DRESS!” and Tiana ran around in little circles, laughing and clapping and her mom laughed and clapped along with her.
Tiana was now so excited that it was hard for her to slow down and walk slow enough for her mom to keep up with her, but she did slow down and in just a few minutes they saw Tutu’s shop cats…Coco, Uku, and Honu…excitedly running to greet them and escort them back to the shop.
Once there, Tutu led them up the stairs and into the tiny bamboo room that hardly anyone ever got to go in. She and her friends talked about that room a lot. They concluded that inside there must be at least a tiny bed and a little sewing machine on a worktable so Tutu could sleep and work there. But where did she store her fabric or cook and where were all the other things a person needs where they live?
This was an extra surprise for Tiana…she was going to be the first one who went inside that room, and she could report back to her friends about what was really in there! The door opened and they all went inside. It was a dressing room…a very tiny little dressing room with just enough space for them both to be alone in there and try on her dress. The walls, floor, and ceiling were woven just like lauhala mats and there was a narrow, full-length mirror on 1 wall and a coat hook on the opposite wall. On the wall in between, there was a tiny bamboo stool with a woven seat just large enough for mom to sit on and a very small bamboo table for someone to sit their belongings on. Tiana was very surprised…where did Tutu sleep and sew?
Tiana was just about to ask Tutu this question when the lady herself held up the most beautiful pink dress she had ever seen and hung it on the coat rack. “I will leave you two to put it on…come out and show me when it’s on, Tiana, and then you can tell me its name!”
As soon as Tiana set eyes on her dress, she became quiet and shy. She had never seen anything so pretty in her life and she sure hadn’t ever worn anything that pretty. She was silent as her mom helped her out of her play clothes and into her dress. She turned and just stared at herself in the mirror…it fit her perfectly and she was so happy that she felt like crying. When she looked up at her mom, there were tears in her eyes, too. Tiana felt like a beautiful Kamāliʻiwahine and couldn’t even imagine how she will feel when it’s the actual day of her birthday! All thought of asking Tutu about the room went right out of her head.
Tiana didn’t want to take her dress off, so Tutu and Mom sat down for a cup of tea while Tiana walked around in her dress, pretending she was a Hawaiian princess and while talking to other imaginary princesses and princes and picking flowers from the beautiful shrubs and bushes around the store.
“I have brought you beautiful flowers, Queen Tutu and Queen Mom,” she said while bowing to them after she started to come back to earth and reality and figured it was time to take off her dress and head home. She did a few twirls then ran up the stairs and stopped at the top, facing the two women. “Queen Tutu, may I present THE ALOHA PINEAPPLE PARTY DRESS!” Mom and Tutu clapped their hands and Tutu exclaimed that it was the perfect name and now she could make more and advertise it in her store.
After changing, Tiana and Mom said goodbye to Tutu and left with her beautiful dress covered in a Tiki Kids garment bag. The shop cats walked with them part of the way home and a beautiful sunset started to form as they made their way along the beach and the ocean.
