Life Goes On

Even though my nights are often punctuated with the fatigue, frustration and weariness that came out in my last post, days are not nearly so bad. And even if they were, it wouldn't matter because life goes on. Nothing slows down just because I'm up at all times of the night with a 9-month-old baby. The laundry doesn't miraculously fold itself, the dishes don't hop into the dishwasher on their own, the business paperwork can't wait for a few months, and even the fun things can't be put off or we would lose out on precious moments and memories. One of the bigger "fun" things that took up a lot of my time recently was planning my dad's surprise 70th birthday party. Several times during the planning phase when we ran into troubles or I was just so exhausted, I thought about bagging the whole thing. But I'm glad I didn't because the was very special. My dad was completely surprised and many of his friends and family were able to be there to honor him. He was very touched and I know it meant a lot to him.

But it definitely was a lot of work! There were the invitations to design and send out, photo albums to go through and pull pictures out to make into a photoboard....

(if you click on the picture above, you can see it enlarged - who knows, you may even spot yourself in it....er, Leah, look for yourself near the upper right-hand corner)

...a trivia game about my dad to make and print out, chicken enchiladas to make....

....setting up and decorating to do....

...and at the party itself, trying to juggle being the hostess and with nursing, warming up baby food, changing diapers, etc! And then when it was all over, lots of clean up! But seeing my dad's look of surprise when he walked in the door, watching him enjoy the evening, and hearing people share memories about how he has touched their lives was definitely worth all the work! My dad is always doing things for others (me included!), so it was nice to be able to do something for him and honor him that night.

The day after, my brother and his family came over for dinner and we got a shot of all the grandkids with my parents right before my dad had to take off to Alaska for his job.

And here's a little side-story from the day of the party:

My dad and brother work for the same union (Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association). As jobs become available, they are posted at the union hall in Seattle every day at 12:30pm. These jobs range anywhere between a dockside night job to a two-week job on an Alaska ferry to a 3-month job on a container ship going across the Pacific. The hitch is that you have to be there in person to take the job and you never know how much time you might have to get ready before the job starts. Well, shortly after 12:30pm on the afternoon of my dad's party, my dad called me up from the union hall in Seattle and asked me to check AlaskaAir.com to check on flights from Seattle to Ketchikan that night...yes, you read that right, THAT NIGHT! The party was to start at 5pm and my dad was asking me to check on a flight going out that night! I played it cool, but my mind was going a hundred miles an hour thinking, "How can I cancel the party? Some of the people, like my relatives from Oregon, are already on their way! Do we continue with the party even if my dad can't make it? Am I going to have to tell my dad about it and beg him not to take this job?" I waited for the flight information to load and held my breath. The last flight to Ketchikan that day was at 4pm. Oh no! As I inwardly panicked, I calmly told my dad the time and waited for what seemed like an eternity....No, he replied, he couldn't get ready that soon - he'd have to catch up with the ferry in Juneau the next day. Whew! I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that I had played it cool and not given away the surprise. =)