Happy Retirement, Dad!

Last week was a monumental event for my dad: he's retired now! Since he was a teenager, he's worked so hard: as a Marine in Vietnam, then an Army officer for 22 years, then a lead anesthetist at one of the busiest hospitals in the country. So after all that hard work, what does he plan to do with his retirement? Hike the Appalachian Trail. Like, the whole thing. I'm not kidding -- he started today.

But before all that, there was an awesome party. I knew a few of the people there, friends of the family from his Army days, but the majority of the people attending were new to me. It was impressive to hear everyone speaking so highly of my dad, hearing co-workers of his say how much he inspired them and taught them. It made me even more proud of him than I already was.

Everyone knew of his hiking plan, of course, and there were a fair number of jokes about the Trail and what he's about to experience. Even the cake was Appalachian Trail-inspired! No, my mom did not make it, but there were a lot of tiny details that are reminiscent of what my mom does on her cakes, too.

Most of all, it was wonderful that our entire family was there to honor my dad. How are we going to get through the next 5 months without him?

(For those of you interested in following his hike, he will be blogging at hankontheAT.com.)