Retirement

This past weekend my Uncle Craig retired after 29 years at Lockheed-Martin. My crazy cousin Janissa, his daughter, along with Aunt Margaret (the wife) and Jamie (also my cousin and Craig's son) threw him a surprise party. They live a good ways from us and we so love hanging out with Janissa and Johnny (her husband) and their daughter Katie that we made a weekend out of it. After the torrential downpour we drove through to get there, we had a weekend of cards, country breakfasts, guitar hero, and extreme laughter. When we get together with them we literally could be Olympians in competitive laughter. Once we get started it takes the need for oxygen or an aneurysm to get us to stop laughing. Even the boys laugh hard and never want to leave.

The party was Saturday night and it was catered by the Varsity, who of course lost their way and we had to wait an hour for them. But it was all you could eat so we made sure they left nothing on the truck. Craig got the standard retirement gifts: wrinkle cream, golf balls, and lots of cards about enjoying the time. We gave him pecans - 2 large bags from Sam's, because Margaret never lets him eat them because they are too expensive. My uncle started as a machinist at Lockheed and Johnny got his original tools and had them cleaned and then presented them to him at the party. Janissa had some of his other items framed, and Margaret announced he was paying for the party!

It was a great time and reminded me how lucky I am to have such a great extended family. It also made me realize that while I started working at 15 and have been working for 25 years, I still have another 25 to go before reaching retirement age. YIKES! I've only worked half as long as I need too and I'm exhausted. Guess I better start playing the lottery.