A Great Day for a Great Guy

My dad has been trying to retire from the U of MN for forever. He has devoted more than 40 years of selfless service to that establishment. Earning grants for important research programs, teaching medical informatics in medical school classrooms, serving as mentor to countless up and coming enthusiastic medical and engineering students, spending countless Saturdays in the pathology research labs, developing a health informatics program to be utilized in real world hospitals and clinics on the side, travelling to exotic parts of the world such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, and all over the US to implement and problem solve such programs, helping to head up a new cancer center off site, and having a list of degrees behind his name too long to fit into one blog post. He has put in SO MANY hours at the University...and that is not even counting the endless hours of work time at home. And honestly, has received very little thanks for his efforts over the years. That is, until today.

A wonderful Symposium was planned in honor of my father and all of his contributions over the past 4 decades. Professors, students, colleagues, and close friends, all took turns behind the podium, thanking my dad for what he's done, on professional, communal, international, and personal levels. The positives poured forth, as well they should, for more than 3 hours. Like a popular "Roast" without all the mean insults, or a funeral eulogy where you are not actually dead( I prefer the Roast analogy), it was so wonderful to hear the compliments about my father....I already KNEW all the great things about him, but it was so FABULOUS to have him hear about those things thought by others, too!

My dad had a few (like 40 minutes worth) of words of acknowledgement to others, including to my mom and us kids....

Though my dad has been so incredibly busy over the years, he certainly made us all feel special. Yes, he worked long hours, and yes, he was on many business trips for many days out of the month. But when he was spending time with us, he was SPENDING TIME WITH us. He was all there. The nature walks and hikes through the county park trails in the fall, cross-country skiing through the golf course in winter, games of Mastermind, Triominos, and Balderdash, and the weekly reading of the Sunday comics. Because of the QUALITY of that time spent, I never felt my dad was "missing" anything.

My brother flew in from Florida for this grand event, and my youngest brother was able to secure the day off. Bob just happened to be in between meetings during his busy day, which allowed me to attend, when I previously thought there was no way I could go, what with all the comings and goings of such little people I am responsible for throughout the day. There was a fancy reception following the Symposium, and an even fancier dinner following that at Nicollet Island Inn. That place is gorgeous! And catered to us well. From attending to my nursing baby's needs for privacy to the delectable 13 layer German Chocolate cake, it was a most wonderful experience...especially since I am in no way, no how, accustomed to fancy restaurants of any kind!

When it was all said and done, my hardworking and humble dad was able to relax with a sigh as the spotlight on him was dimmed. He had been so surprised by all the wonderful and nice things people had said about him all day long. I was surprised that he had been surprised. He is so wonderful, that I thought he must certainly realize that. I guess that just goes to show us that even the best of us have a warped view of who we are on the outside. And that's too bad, because I am certain that God would so love to have us view ourselves as how He has created us....perfectly and wonderfully made. I can see that in my dad, and I hope he will be able to see that in himself too, for all of his many years to come.