Preparing

I was welcomed back to Houston with an early morning wake up and a stressed out mother. Honestly that is what I was expecting. My mom has planned a retirement party for my father tomorrow fit for 150 quests. I told her that 150 people is the size of a wedding. I think that freaked her out a bit more.

I came home a day early to help her prepare for this wedding, no wait, I mean party. I knew she would be running around like a crazy women if I didn't. Right after breakfast she had me searching through old pictures. She needed ones of my dad from his days in uniform. Unfortunately for her, my dad hasn't been in uniform since before cameras were invented so it was almost impossible to find any. Okay not quite that long but seriously the last time my dad was in a police uniform was the early 80s. 

After finding a measly three pictures and a bunch of random selfies of him on vacation, my mom had me go through old VHS tapes looking for recordings of him on the news. YES I DID SAY VHS. My mom is crazy. Not only did I find two recordings after searching through ten VHS tapes but without a converter there was no way of getting the recordings on the computer. So yes I did waste at least an hour of my life doing that. 

Really after a morning of getting nothing accomplished I was determined to make my trip home a favor to my bank account. I volunteered to pick up the prints at Walmart so I could get my oil changed and load up on gas with the generous financial support of my parents. Who are we kidding? The financial support comes straight from my father, who as of tomorrow will be unemployed. Actually unemployed is the wrong word. My dad showed me today how much he makes to lay around the house. Just to give you some perspective it is a 400% increase of what I currently make babysitting. So yeah he will not be unemployed, just on "vacation." 

Anyways pretty soon after my Walmart trip the entire family sat down and had dinner together. I think that my mom intentionally cooks when I come home just so the five of us can all sit down together. It really doesn't happen as often as it used to, especially since I live in a different city. Family dinners are one of my favorite things to do when I come home. It is a chance for all of us to sit down and talk. We ate lasagna and I told them about camp. The conversation went great. 

Dinner ended just as Game 7, Heat vs. Spurs came on. The four of us, minus dad, watched the teeth clinching game all the way through. We were all sad to see the Spurs lose. All of us are true Texans and always route for anything associated with our great state. The Spurs fought so hard and the game itself was so worth watching. We headed to bed after. It is another early morning tomorrow and we all need to be prepared. 

I'm excited to see my dad retire. From the time I was born until tomorrow afternoon he has been a Houston Police Lieutenant in the Homicide division. That has been his title. He upheld that title and served the people of Houston to the best of his ability. I know that whatever he decides to do next will bring him as much meaning and purpose. I personally cannot wait to see what happens.