so i am back home. after non stop prep for my upcoming 216 holiday shoppe and holidays at RS, I took the afternoon/evening off to join my family and my dad’s coworkers to celebrate his retirement with a surprise party planned by his amazing staff.

i think there is a bit of irony in the fact that my father, a life-long law man: marine, detective, graduate of the FBI academy, fraud investigator, father of teenagers at one point…could manage to even be surprised! I mean, perhaps, since this was a total success in that he truly had no idea about it…this law man really was ready to retire!

In any event…

my father grew up with nothing. he and his 3 siblings shared a two-bedroom duplex in euclid until he left for the Vietnam war (where he earned two purple hearts). He returned, marrying my mother (she 19, he 21 - still married and in love) and he immediately dove into the responsibility of adulthood and becoming a provider for his family. A resourceful man, my mother always relayed stories of his desire or attempts at turning every idea he had (which were many) into a business ; he always worked hard, earning every promotion and accolade he ever received (which, too, were many).

i have always been very proud of my father. he spoke to my brownie troupe when i was a little girl and to my 5th grade class about the dangers of drugs (i remember a classmate telling me my dad was cute and being totally confused by that, (dads are just dads i thought, not humans in which to have casual opinions about?!). I remember my dad being away at FBI academy when i was in 9th grade, right when Silence of the Lambs came out, I bought the book so as to share in the experience, or more accurately, to glamorize it. I thought it was so cool to go down to Quantico, VA for his graduation and run the same obstacle course as Jody Foster did in the movie and to see the fake town they have set up for training-ops.

it was all really cool until my dad retired for the first time, due to a back injury, during the summer going into my Junior year of high school…no, that was not so cool…here is this man, freshly trained from the FBI, forced to retire while at his prime, sitting idle for the first time in his entire life…oh this does not bode well for a teenager looking to get the teen out of her…no. all those detective skills were used on me, the youngest, the one still in high school, the one that slipped under the radar all those years her older brothers were occupying the entire radar screen…yeah, not so good for me

…or maybe it was. As an adult, far too many years out of high school, I often think how glad i am to have gotten all those shenanigans out of my system while i was still so young…i mean, while so many people my age were just getting around to experimenting with this or that, i was already sure what my likes and dislikes were and setting out on the path that I am still on today. so, in retrospect maybe his brief bout of retirement all those years ago, was well-timed afterall.

i don’t know…this man is just a good man. i knew this to be true. of course. but i always knew that it was more than just the perspective of his daughter, or his sons and wife for that matter, that share my adoration and respect for him, but you see it in every decision he makes, big or small. this man has no limit, he never stops, he will ALWAYS do what he can for others. ALWAYS.

Tonight I heard speeches from 5 people from his staff. People that I have come to know over the years, because, he doesn’t see a distinction between the people in his life, just that they are people in his life, and thus he treats them all with love and respect and this was never more evident than tonight.

He was not a boss to them. He was a mentor. This is a very important distinction to make. These great people have started their careers,( all of them under 35 i would guess) with my father, and having the right role model at a pivotal point in your life can be life changing…and from listening to these speeches I have learned that for some of them, that is exactly what it was.

I have certainly not gotten it all figured out. i have absolutely NO balance in my life. But what i do have, i am proud of, and i am more proud tonight knowing where to credit it to. (of course this is split with my lovely mother!)

I know from my dad, that you don’t have to have anything to make anything. It’s already all yours you just have to realize it.

xoxo

dd

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