It's September and I need a roommate. I couldn't live in the dorms anymore. I was fed up of being paired with idiots. I was done sharing my kitchen and my bathroom with an entire floor. When I signed the lease for my apartment, I did it with the guy...
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It's May and Dad is finally retiring so Holt and I take a break from documentary shooting to go back home and throw him a party.
I'm happy for Dad. I know he's not the kind of person that will go into a depression because his work defined him and was the only way he could gratify himself. As a matter of fact, I'm sure he'll be happy to spend more time with Mom. The only worry that I have is those nightmare stories you hear sometimes of people working all their lives and the second they retire they have a heart attack. Even if Dad's in remission, I'm always worried that the cancer might suddenly come back. I know he gets checked often, but that doesn't make me worry any less.
The day we decide to throw him the party, Eloise's boyfriend is the one distracting Dad and keeping him away from the house. Eloise and Mom do most of the preparation for the party.
Holt and I are kind of out of it. We're still jet lagged. Just last week we were in Germany. Even if the Berlin Wall is mostly all destroyed now, there's still the East Side Gallery and some memorials left and I really wanted to add it to the documentary.
We've also got a tiny human distraction. Dean is almost one year old now. He's babbling a lot. He'll make a bunch of noises and there will be one or two words in there like mama or dada or bottle and he always starts making his cooing sounds when we're not paying enough attention to him. He's actually walking now. Or well running and face planting all over the place. It's kind of hilarious.
Finally, when my parents' house is filled with balloons and Mom's satisfied with the food and the decorations we text Eloise's baby daddy and tell him he can bring Dad back home.
When Dad walks in, he's grinning. "I knew you guys we up to something but I didn't guess this," he says, coming to hug me and Holt. "Now, when exactly did my two sons show up?"
I'm grinning too. "We drove in right after you guys drove off."
"Well, if retiring means that my whole family comes back home, I should do it more often," Dad jokes.
We spent an amazing day the whole family together. We keep joking and laughing and enjoying each other's company.
We're playing board games and Eloise and her boyfriend made a bet that the loser would have to jump in the lake behind the house. It's still pretty cold since winter lasted a while this year. Everyone is trying to sabotage them and taking one side or another.
In the end, Eloise is the one that has to jump, but her boyfriend being the sweetheart he is, follows her in.
Dad is smiling all the while.
Holt and I stay a few more days at home.
We keep hiding in my room to take naps because we're exhausted. It's nice to be home and to wake up and to eat Mom's food. I keep offering to help, or to cook dinner in her place, but she always shoos me away. I'm not complaining. There's nothing like your mom's food.
When Holt and I finally decide that it's time to leave Mom gets us and Dad in a group hug.
As I'm hugging my parents and my boyfriend I'm reminded how grateful I am for my family.
