Dad in Town

On Thursday morning my dad came into town from Albuquerque for something like a 60 hour visit to his youngest (and dare I spoiled?) daughter. Here is a general itinerary of the visit:

Day One:
(Remain awake all night because sleep cycle is screwed up because of flying all night back from Rio the other night, and having an absurdly early neurology appointment this morning).
Pick Dad up at airport.
Eat at La Madeleine for brunch.
Go get gas in car.
Go get groceries.
Go to my apartment where Dad takes inventory of all my broken stuff.
Dad starts to take apart my vacuum.
Dad starts to take apart my lamp.
Dad starts to set up my Digital transition boxes, but realizes I need another antennae for my bedroom television.
We go to Target to buy batteries, bathmat & bath rugs (both of these were ruined in ceiling collapse during Hurricane Ike), light bulbs galore, picture frames, belt for my vacuum, antennae for my television in the bedroom.
Go to Chuy's for dinner where I introduce him to green chili margaritas and Elvis' picture hanging on the wall (my Chihuahua, who actually lives in Albuquerque with my parents, see other blog).
By the time we get home it is only 7pm, but I have been up almost 29hours straight and can't keep my eyes open, so I stuff in my earplugs and kiss Daddy goodnight and pass out. Between the time I am sleeping and he is awake, Dad changes all the batteries in my clocks (and sets them to the correct time!???! that's new) and smoke detectors, sets up my non-working VCR to make it actually work, finishes fixing vacuum, unclogs my bathroom sink, and frames a few photos.

Day Two:
I wake up at 5am because I went to bed so early, and find Dad (rightly) snoring on my Aerobed. I decide to read until he wakes up, he's an early bird (former military and all), so I figure he'd be up soon. He was up within the hour. We eat breakfast at home, watch tv for a few hours. Obviously way more relaxed this day.
We set out on the road again.
Go to Batteries Plus for new car battery. Oops this one doesn't have my size. Go to different one. Get lost along the way. Finally get there after several U-turns.
Go to Target one more time because we need more lightbulbs.
Go to hardware store for a lamp part.
We head to Crescent City Beignets for beignets and cafe au laits, a must whenever Dad is in town.
We decide to go to Ikea for lunch (even though we've had dessert first) and to take advantage of final days of Blue Moon sale. Miss turn off of Memorial onto Antoine and go several blocks further than necessary. Driving is not my strong suit. But I realize my mistake, eventually.
Race home to make the 3pm reserve flight attendant pick up window (there are 3 positions open on the 4-day Honolulu).
Get home with 25 minutes to spare, I become CCS zombie, until my DSL goes down at 2:59pm, when I become a curse-spewing sailor on shore leave.
Well after that drama, we decide to go see "Valkyrie". I am a fan of this movie, and not just because Kenneth Branaugh is in it (if you haven't seen his version of Hamlet - then you haven't lived). Very well written, the sheer audacity of the imagery is spellbinding. Inspiring.
We then go to SouperSalad for dinner. A guilty pleasure for me (I'm vegetarian).
Upon our return home Dad procedes to fix the lamp.

Day 3:
Today begins with a trip to CVS to drop off my Rx from the neurologist.
Then off to BestBuy to get my good laptop fixed (currently using spare because good one has been broken for about a month can't hold a charge because charger is broken amung other things).
Then Chik-Fil-A. Now, I don't eat chicken, but this place has the best side-salads for future reference, because they actually put cheese on them. And sunflower seeds. And they have soft-serve ice cream.
We go back home because I have to get ready for (AH!) airport alert, and Dad is leaving on a flight later this night.

I dropped him off at the gate, and was walking back to the crew room to check in for work, and was overcome. People were staring at the misty eyed flight attendant. I hate saying goodbye!

Basically, Dad came down to check up on the baby of the family and make sure that I am doing alright, here on my own in Houston. And I love him for it!

Thanks Daddy!