Welcome Home!

Whew, it's been a while since I've posted a blog on here! So be prepared....this is a long one.

Well, as of today, my Dad is RETIRED!!! He will go into work briefly to say goodbye and they will pack up their closets (most of their belongings are already in the house in Anderson) and hit the road. For those of you who don't know, my Dad was the school Superintendent of the Ninety-Six school district, so my parents have been living in Greenwood, SC for the past 7 years. 3 years ago, they bought a house in Anderson for when they retire. I lived there for two years, which worked out perfect for both of us.....I was able to save money for a downpayment and in the meantime, I kept up the maintenance of the house. My parents decided last March to put their house up for sale, thinking it would take a while to sell with the way the market was. Boy were they wrong. It took 2 weeks. Needless to say, I was stressing since I was still living in their retirement house and wasn't sure where they were going to live. I knew I couldn't live with them and I hadn't even been looking at houses since I knew Dad wasn't retiring for another year. Turns out, I didn't need to worry. They found a garage apartment on the the lake, to rent for the next year. It was TINY! One bedroom, one bath, a small (and I mean SMALL) den and a tiny kitchen. There were also about 30 stairs to climb to get to this garage apartment. Ironic since Dad just had knee replacement surgery a year and a half ago. But, as of today, they are moving out of that garage apartment and heading over to start their relaxing life.

Ninety-Six has been a great place for my parents and Dad has loved working there and loved all of the people. They have been so good to all of us! This past Friday, they had their end-of-year luncheon for all of the teachers and staff. They honor teachers of the year and teachers who have been there for set numbers of years. And they honor the retirees. Well, since Dad was retiring, they had a special little something for him and asked my family to come celebrate. My dad knew that my mom, sister and nephews were going to be there but he didn't know that I took the day off to surprise him. As we arrived, the assistant superintendent arrived at the same time with red, puffy eyes. She said that it had been an emotional morning already at work. She even stated that they lady who does payroll in the office and who is also retiring, would not be attending the luncheon because she couldn't handle the it emotionally. So sweet! We all got our kleenex ready before Dad arrived. As a family, we had a special gift for him. I found a website that creates prints out of the special memories you provide them. You can go to www.yourmemorylane.com and check it out. We got our most favorite and special memories together, along with the logos from the districts that my Dad was superintendent at, and some of the past cars he had. Sounds funny but see the picture attached and you will see how it turned out. I wish I could explain all of the memories but here are a few:

1. When my sister and I were little, we LOVED to swing and see how high we could get before jumping out. One night we ran to the swings, dusted off the spider webs and started swinging. Before we swang too high, my sister went ahead and jumped out of the swing and ran off! What?? Well, what happened was as she was swinging, a spider got in her mouth and bit her on the tongue. Yep. She even recalls it being "furry". We had to rush her to the doctor to get a shot. Wasn't funny at the time but now it's a story we love to remember!

2. Again, when we were young, we used to have awesome snow storms! Much better than we have now, right? We would get inches and inches that would freeze over and make everything icy and perfect for sledding. Well, after a day on the sled, we were getting ready for bed and Dad went outside to put the sled away. He noticed how slick the driveway was and thought he would test it out. Keep in mind, he's in his PJ's, robe and slippers. Once on the sled, it took off down the driveway and he couldn't stop. He kept going farther and farther down the street and a high rate of speed and ended up at the deadend and the sled took off into the woods. LOL!! For a while, we couldn't figure out where he was! He had to walk back up the street from the woods in the freezing cold and in the icy and snow!

Those are just two of the funny family memories. So, back to the luncheon. Dad was presented with two awards....one by the two representatives of the House or Representatives and one by two Senators. He was truly surprised. He was really surprised by our gift and a few tears where shed when we gave it to him. I'm so proud of my Dad and even though this has been an emotional goodbye to Ninety-Six, he will always know how much they appreciated him and how much he loved that town and that district! Now for the first time in about 15 years, we will all live in the same town. It will be different, that's for sure, but it will be nice to have them so close! Welcome Home, Mom and Dad!!! (attached is a sign I made which will be put up at their house along with balloons today, to welcome them as they pull in their driveway!)