What will you be doing at 89?

My dad turned 89 in August. And was still employed.

After enlisting in the Navy right out of high school (and subsequently going off to WW2), he has worked hard his whole life. He grew up running a farm, protected our country in Japan, traveled coast to coast delivering mail by train, was a successful hotel manager, was a founding partner in Damon's restaurants, was a general contractor for a restaurant or hotel you've probably been in, and finally settled down to be our church facilities manager for the last ten years. Phew.

On October 15th, he officially retired from all of it.

He was such an integral part of the church behind the scenes. Alarm go off at 2 AM? Guess who had to go turn it off?  Toilet overflow while he's out of town? Guess who had to arrange for a plumber from afar?  You get it. The man has worked hard.

From this, I have learned my work ethic, both at my workplace and at home. You work hard, you follow through, and you forgive.  The more I examine my personality and habits, the more I see his influence in positive and "other" (stubborn?) ways.

Anyway, we celebrated this milestone with a church potluck, lots of family in town, and stopping time for a moment here and there to think, "I wish it could always be like this".

Here he is, not a fan of having his picture taken, but the man of the hour.

 Our family table, looking like it did the night before at Cracker Barrel. Chaos.

 Dad and his 3 younger brothers. He was the oldest of 6!

 My brother in law saying something outrageous, I'm sure.

 Me, sister Vicki, dad, and brother Bobby. Obviously, dad has been raising kids for a long time.

And he still is!  

Though he is officially retired now, he still likes to keep busy. In fact, within 2 days, we were at Lowe's getting supplies for a project I will share with you soon.  Here's to some relaxation time for the man I have spent my life looking up to!

Comments

Keith and Julie said…
Way to go, Bob! What a guy! You'll have to keep him busy with projects...