You know what rocketry is to my family? Well, it's the most awesome way in the world to get my kid excited about science, my little guy and his grandpa get to be BFFs, and every once in a while, things blow up. It's awesome.
HUGE bonus this time, though. I drove my dad and the little guy out of town and back for the event. Lots of talk about the launch plans on the way there, but on the way back I finally got the whole scoop on what my dad was up to all those days of my childhood when he left early in the morning to go to work and then always came home in plenty of time to help us with homework, instrument practice, and general nagging to do chores, of course. It's funny, as kids we really don't necessarily know what our parents do to bring the bucks home. What do I remember? I remember hanging out at UT as a wee one, drawing on HUGE chalk boards, and all those stairs that had to be navigated around campus that I'd revisit 15 years later when I began attending college. With the office jobs he had, I only remember the company parties, the getting VERY tipsy once at a bar-b-que when I snagged my dad's Coors (his brand of choice in the 70s) and my ensuing personality change...freakishly introverted to WAY out of my box. I also remember his super nice secretaries who, in retrospect, spoiled me rotten. My dad's work history is awe-worthy in my eyes. I won't go into the details, but it was a wonder to hear the path he took from being a physics professor at UT as a young man to a rocketry enthusiast in his retirement. I know it seems like it could've been a direct path, but he took the creative way around.
My kids, on the other hand, are all in my and Dave's work life. They've both helped in my classroom while I taught and Dave has hired them to help on many set-ups. And, so far, they've maintained their sobriety and are seriously lacking in the spoiled department.
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