Biography

Name: Jennifer Ann Eno Ozawa Birthdate: 13 August 1972 Birthplace: Jacksonville, Florida Parents: Lorraine Lussier and Edward Eno Current Residence: Waikiki, Hawai`i

I was born on August 13, 1972 in Jacksonville, Florida. My dad was in the Navy, so moving was inevitable, and we did so in November of 1972 when I was three months old. We went to Massachusetts, where my only sibling, Michael, was born. It wasn't long before we had to leave Massachusetts, too, and when I was three, we moved to Maine. I still remember a lot about Maine. My earliest memory was of my mother trying to chase a skunk out of the garage. We actually lived in two different towns in Maine; Cape Elizabeth and Yarmouth. The house in Yarmouth was a big red maroon wood number, and it was haunted. I started kindergarten there, too. In the summer of 1978, my dad was sent to Portsmouth, Virginia. By this time, I was nearly six. I had spent a year in kindergarten and so far, I liked school. First grade changed things. I was in a town where I didn't know anybody and I felt like an outsider. I would still move once more before settling into a place. My father retired from the Navy in 1981. We moved to Florida, where I stayed until I was twenty-one. By this time I was in fourth grade. I had been given an IQ test and it was determined that I was to be put into "gifted classes". Meanwhile, my regular class was a huge gaggle of misfits and rebels. We were always in trouble. In this class, I met Vicki Lantz, a skinny girl with waist-length braids who kicked all the boys with her big cowboy boots. She was friendly, though, and I admired her intelligence, so we became friends and have stayed that way to this very day. She's been married for six years and has a daughter in kindergarten who has red hair _and_ is a Taurus. Yikes. When you stay in one place for any period of time, it's hard to forget it, and I catch myself sometimes missing Florida. Every moment of my adolescence was spent there; from my first bra when I was ten to my first major heartbreak. I had breasts before all the other girls in my class and they snapped my size AA bra in jealousy. High school was okay, but uneventful. I didn't go to my prom. Remarkably, I didn't truly fall in love until I moved to Hawaii. When I was twenty-one, I was finally sick of Florida, so I came to Hawaii. I applied to admission at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. I arrived in the fall of 1993. I met the man who was to become my husband the following semester. He was my best friend for months and we were finally confronted by a mutual friend who watched our relationship, and we decided then that we were a couple. I didn't have a roommate, so that evening, he slept in my bed and we've lived together ever since. Since I've been in Hawaii, I still take periodic trips back to Florida to visit my parents and it was during a trip in the summer of 1997 when I found out that I was pregnant. We hadn't gotten married yet and we certainly weren't prepared, but we decided to keep it and raise it. I returned to Hawaii in late June. We quickly began planning a wedding. We finally got married on November 17, 1997. Our daughter, Katherine, was born on January 26, 1998. She's the most beautiful baby ever (and I've got independent laboratory tests to prove it!). Now that I'm a wife and mother, I've never been happier. While I've worked off and on — most recently at Liberty House/Macy's — I've been fortunate enough to spend the majority of my time at home with my daughter. And as of June, Katie won't be alone. We're expecting a son! Back to Hale Kilinahe.