A Party for Dad

At work yesterday I attended a party. Dad’s retirement party.

I suppose by definition it wasn’t a “real” retirement party, as dad didn’t “retire” from his current job; he quit, but he quit to begin his retirement, so in that sense, I guess you could call it a retirement party.

Dad wasn’t supposed to retire from his contract job out at the FAA’s print shop — he was never supposed to be there to begin with. He was supposed to retire from Oklahoma Graphics, the printing company he started working at in 1971 (two years before I was born). Unfortunately for him that didn’t happen. Oklahoma Graphics was bought and sold, first by Shea Communications and then later by World Color Press, who kept the plant open a couple of years before closing it down. After 30 years of employment, my dad’s career at Oklahoma Graphics ended not with a bang but with a whimper. Actually it ended with them screwing him out of about half of his retirement. While some of his co-workers transferred to other World Color locations and others moved to different printing companies, Dad got out altogether.

After working a few different jobs (delivering newspapers for Opubco and delivering people for Airport Express), dad and his old Oklahoma Graphics buddy Danny lucked into their new jobs, out at the FAA’s print shop. Shortly after he started work there, I remember my dad telling me, “they don’t even have any presses there, just printers.” At Oklahoma Graphics, Dad dealt with Harris M-1000 and Goss C-700 presses, machines that were 100-150 feet in length and roared as loud as a freight train. The FAA’s print shop consisted of “printers with touch screens attached,” as Dad described them.

I get my night owl tendencies from my dad. My entire life I can only remember my dad working two shifts; three-to-midnight, and the somewhat hellish midnight-to-noon shift he pulled for years. His last job was no exception; he ended up on the 3pm-to-11:30pm shift, which he loved. Unfortunately that shift pretty much meant that the kids only get to see their grandpa on the weekends. That’s one thing that will take some getting used to for all of us. My dad has worked nights for so long that out of habit I don’t even think about inviting him to events that take place during the week. It will be nice to be able to invite him to dinner during the week.

The retirement party was really nice. Danny and Renee and a few of his other co-workers snuck around and put it together, and it was really nice. It’s always nice to feel appreciated and know that you’ll be missed. I know Dad appreciated the gesture and I did too; it made me proud to know that he was a part of their team for eight years. Even though (and I am speaking for myself here) I always felt like Oklahoma Graphics was his “career” and the FAA print shop was “just a job”, Graphics never threw a retirement party for him, and the FAA did. Like I said, I know he appreciated the effort and the gesture, as did I.

So, between Oklahoma Graphics’ retirement, social security, and the VA, combined with a paid off house and two paid off cars, Dad’s going to make it.

I wish I could wrap up this post by telling you what’s in store next for Dad, but even he doesn’t know. “It’s a weird feeling, not having anywhere to be, like … ever,” he said to me yesterday. I’ve read the hardest thing about doing nothing is knowing when you’re done.

Congratulations, Dad. You made it.