DEPARTMENT:

First up is Carlos Delgado, who lives in Manoa with his wife and 2 sons, although Vince is off to Santa Clara for college. Carlos is currently Director of Operations for California Pizza Kitchen Hawaii, a company he has been with for 16 years and Carlos just turned 50. We chose Carlos for this interview at the suggestion of our good friend, Carol Kai.
 
Stats: Carlos Delgado
DOB: November 7, 1957
Wife: Cindy
Sons: Vince 18, Justin 6
 
RW: What do you consider your greatest achievement to date?
CD: A successful family life.
RW: What was the greatest risk you took in life?
CD: Moving to Hawaii for one year, and never going back!
RW: What is your most treasured possession?
CD: My family photos and my karate black belt, karate certificates, and stuff.
RW: What quality do you most value in your friends?
CD: Honesty and integrity.
RW: What qualities do you like most in a woman?
CD: Intelligence and a sense of humor.
RW: Who is your hero in real life or fiction?
CD: My father. He struggled all his life to get it right.
RW: What words or phrases do you most overuse?
CD: I love you.
RW: Is there anything or anyone that you really dislike?
CD: People who need a reality check.
RW: What is your greatest extravagance?
CD: My five-bedroom house in Manoa, and my Mercedes.
RW: What is your greatest fear?
CD: That someone in my immediate family dies before I do.
RW: And, how would you like to die?
CD: In my sleep.
RW: If you could do something over, what would it be?
CD: I would not have abused myself as much as I did, and I would have taken my education more seriously.
RW: When do you lie?
CD: When telling the truth won’t accomplish anything positive.
RW: If you weren’t in the job you are in now, what do you think you would have wanted to do as a career?
CD: Be a world class soccer coach.
RW: What was the lowest point of your life?
CD: The death of my son, Charlie, at age 8 in 2005 of cystic fibrosis.
RW: What the high point of yourlife?
CD: Marrying my wife, Cindy.
RW: Carlos, if you could change some- thing about yourself, what would it be?
CD: I’m overly sensitive to people’s negative comments. I would like to be able to let go of those feelings more easily.
RW: If you were to die and come back as anything or anyone, what or who would it be?
CD: Charlie loved butterflies, and Cindy and I have a pact that whoever dies first, will come back with Charlie as butterflies.

RW: If you could choose one talent to have (that you don’t now) what would it be?
CD: The ability to make people understand.
RW: Carlos, what is your greatest goal?
CD: To be the calm in the storm, to de-stress my life and everyone’s around me.
RW: What is your current state of mind?
CD: Peaceful.
RW: What do you want out of the next 50 years?
CD: For my sons to graduate college and to have fun!
 
PostScript
From Carlos: Charlie knew he wasn’t going to grow up here on earth. And, I knew it, too. There was something always warning me, making me anxious…and, then Charlie wanted to know: “Papa, is there peach yogurt in heaven?”
RW: Carlos, it has been a few years since I’ve seen you. Did you lose your hair or do you think the bald head is very Bruce Willis?
CD: Charlie didn’t want me to shave my head, and it was a game we played. I would tease him that I would shave my head, and Charlie would laugh and laugh and say, “No, don’t!” So, when Charlie died I shaved my head…as a way of getting back at him for leaving me.

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