Dad's Induction

We were in Saskatoon last night for my dad's induction into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame. He was a part of the University of Saskatchewan's Men's Track and Field team in 1969-1970 that won the CIS championships. It's funny...you spend most of your life doing things where your parents are proud of you. You play on sports teams or take part in dance recitals or win an award at school and your parents are right there cheering you on and supporting you. When you're younger, there really aren't many instances where you get to be proud of your parents. They already have their careers lined up and their homes purchased and all their babies have been born. From a young kid's perspective, there's not much for excitement in your parents' life.

As I've grown older, I've found more and more reasons to be proud of my parents (besides the wonderful job they did in raising me *wink wink*). This has been a huge year for my parents because they both retired at the same time. During both of my parents' retirement parties, I was bursting with pride at their accomplishments...twenty-five plus years of teaching is now over and they are on to the next phase of their life. All that saving and penny pinching can now be enjoyed (although my mom has mentioned a few times that it is difficult to get out of that frame of mind now that it is time for them to start spending their money!). As I type this, my parents are enroute to Germany to visit my sister. This is their second trip in 2 months (the first was to New York) and they have a third (Thailand) lined up for the middle of January.

Last night during the ceremonies, I was beaming like a little kid...just so, so, so proud of my dad. I'd like to also mention that my maternal grandmother, as well as my aunt and uncle, are also members of the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame so I had even more reason to be proud last night. And while I'm bragging, I may as well mention two other tidbits...(1) my mom held the Saskatoon high school discus record for 26 years before it was broken in 1991 and (2) my dad still holds the U of S record for the 880 yard run? dash? sprint? with a time of 1:56.5. So, I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate my dad on a job well done! We're proud of you!