Putting up with three of the four of us
Clothing Line Clashes: Banana Republic Mad Men meets Lane Bryant for Kids
Can you read the magazine title baby brother or are you just looking at the pictures? Yes, It's Playboy
Never Looked Better - unless you count today!
If you keep up with me on Facebook, you know that my dad recently received the Citizen Award, presented by the Michigan Historic Preservation Network. This honor is reserved for an outstanding individual, who through personal effort and/or involvement in historic preservation projects has made a significant contribution to the preservation of Michigan’s heritage. Dad was nominated by their very cool friend and neighbor, Susan, for scoring close to one million bucks in grants and matching funds - I’m rounding up from about $900K. And speaking of rounding up, he also corralled a bunch of volunteers who racked up thousands of hours of time, his hours included, to make hefty upgrades to three Marshall Historical Society museums, including the famous Honolulu House.
When I called Dad to congratulate him and see how the awards ceremony went, he was appropriately humbled, tried to give credit to others, thrilled to no end that my baby sis was there to (as a surprise to him) present his award, and not exactly sure what to do with the award itself. He’s been retired for over 20 years now and doesn’t have an office wall on which one would typically hang this sort of thing. Well, unless you count an upstairs section of their house…where he tucks himself away…on the computer…researching stocks...listening to radio talk show hosts with whom I'd never be caught dead…into the wee hours of the night…communicating with my mother via Morse code...by pounding on the floor. Three foot stomps means “I’m on the phone and the person with whom I’m speaking wants to talk to you too”.
I called my mom tonight and sure enough, dad is still at it. Even after winning the award, he and other volunteers continue to work away. He’d spent several recent days painting historical markers on the sidewalks of my hometown all while alternating sitting and standing and crouching and stooping and bending and reaching (and for my co-workers, other social security disability lingo). Thank goodness mom had marked off his calendar this week for some time off at their cottage (even though I’m sure that while there he had a three mile long to do list). And, thank goodness, when I called, dad was in town getting a well-deserved massage. He promised to bring back dinner afterwards. While I was waiting for Doc. B. to bring home Sheik Burritos, mom figured dad would be coming home with Taco Bell, McDonald's or Wendy’s.
Loving on my sweet, humble, frugal parents today and every day!
