31.75 Years of Service

Now that is a long time :-)

In some ways it seems like yesterday; then thinking back on all that has happened, the changes, the moves, the children, the friends we have made... it seems like ages ago.

The banquet tonight was wonderful; the food was great and the company even better. They told stories about the guys (thanks for those that shared) and we had great laughter. A couple of the guys were told they found that they could collect no 'dirt' on them - that they must have pictures on someone to keep them quiet.

But when they got to Steve... they showed paper upon paper of stories about him. They said while they were not at a loss for stories,they did have difficulties making a decision on which stories to use :-) We had some fun listening to them, and they finished with the fork 'n' rope story which I am sure most of the room was involved in - remember that? 1,017 forks or something like that... each sent from a different person. There were some good laughs there... good memories... good fun.

His pin:

My flowers:

He received his pin and they gave me some flowers for helping him make the 30+ years. It has indeed been a ride. I wish I were home to scan a few pictures of the Omaha orange, but you will just have to remember what it used to be. He truly bleeds orange and those that have been there as long as he has, still does. Blue may be his color now, but Omaha orange is where it all started.

We had gone to supper with Mike the night before the banquet - Mike was receiving his 20 year award. Mike was very disappointed that they had not invited his wife - this confused us all as I had been invited. There was much discussion over it, but we finally just stopped talking about it though he was obviously very troubled. The night of the awards, Mike and Steve were visiting and who walked in but Mike's wife? They had made arrangements to fly her in from Scotland! He was dumb struck - obviously speechless. What a wonderful surprise for him. He has been Steve's counterpart for 10 or 11 years. They both do the same job; the only two men in the company that can take a job from thought to installation; beginning to end. Hopefully that is going to change soon...

Steve gets to cancel his reservations to Korea! Jason has taken care of everything and called him today with the good news - they may be turning this need for training new guys around finally! Maybe they realize Steve can actually retire really soon and they need to start getting their ducks in a row. There are not only two people in the world with the company that can do this job and we know that - but their are only two people that know how to do it right now. Jason is well on his way. I hope they finally realize that they need to move on; the 'old timers' are ready to move on for sure.

Life goes on, seasons change and we move on. Our company (companies - as one took over the old one) has/have been good to us and we have had some mighty grand adventures thanks to them. We are living one now - who would have thought we would be in China Town, Singapore to enjoy a piece of this pie?

I have found my perfect drink at the rooftop bar. They call it the Mary Jane, I think their name for it: it is cranberry juice, raspberry vodka and strawberries - no mint please.

It is a wonderful fruity drink that I could have killed myself with. I doubt it is what gave me the sore throat, but I surely had a headache this morning from you know where. I might have drank too much, but I never felt it. I think I have a touch of cigarette smoke inhalation and drag-last from the late night - errr, early morning. Regardless, we had a wonderful time with great memories and people.

Look forward to seeing you all again real soon.