She's calling in gone.

Debra has retired! Hard to believe my working girl could ever retire, but she has. It is also hard for me to remember when Debra did not have an engineering project on her mind, or was not stressing over a deadline. This should be interesting. Yesterday she was laughing at herself in the aft cabin about something she did, and last night we went out to a bar for a "few", but when I suggested we leave Debra taunted me. "Wimp" she said, "light weight!", so we stayed. Now my big head is buzzing and I want to lay down. Who is this person I'm living with?

Debra started her working life at Carroll's burgers in nineteen never mind. Personally I only stopped at a Carrolls once in my life. I was a Henry's Hamburger kind of guy. Who remembers ten cent burgers? I just wish I had seen her in a cute little Carrols hat. Bet that was funny. I'm sure Deb excelled at burger assembly, or whatever she did there.

Debra's first employer. Is that my Pinto parked in front?

Deb decided drinking college was for her, so she took off for Alfred State. Not Alfred U, as they were just stupid pot smoking art students. Personally, I think U might have been pretty cool. When Deb killed her final keg in the southern tier, she came back to Rochester to work for a law firm. What the hell? After a while she finally came to her senses and decided she wanted to be an Engineer like her Dad. She ended up at a local utility company, and enrolled at RIT in Electrical Engineering. While at this utility company she was annoyed by a little guy with a really awesome porn star mustache, who sat across from her. After a while we both lost interest in Gas and Electric. Deb was enrolled in RIT's co-op program, while I bounced around the city in various engineering positions.

After finally succumbing to the charms of the stache, Debra got busy with kids, studies and finally steady employment in the engineering consulting field. This wasn't enough for Deb, who went on to get her Professional Engineering license. We are talking big time now. She gets to have letters after her name. I can not explain to you how impressive that is. Getting your PE is the high point in engineering achievement. OK, landing something on another planet might top that but still it's pretty cool.

Debra was also known as a workaholic to us in the family. This really isn't fair, but I find it hard to believe that she was ever late on a project, or that one was submitted incomplete. She spent many nights with a red flair in her hand and drawings spread across the kitchen table. Most of the time the work was being done after the kids went to bed. Our daughters mean everything to us, and we tried to not let work get in the way. I look back now and wonder where all the energy came from. How Deb managed to be a great Mom, get her engineering degree, put up with my bullshit and accomplish all she did is amazing.

Debra's years at Bergmann, though stressful at times were good years. I never heard her complain like I did. I never saw her so stressed she had to pace the floor and let it all out so she could function after she got home. I know she liked the people she worked with and that makes all the difference in the world. Engineering can be stressful.  Debra's reputation was on the line every time she stamped a drawing. I respect her for all the years of hard work and dedication, and professionalism. She's a damn good engineer. Now that all of that nonsense is behind her, she can just concentrate on being a damn good sailor.

No more red flair for Deb

Time for Deb to have some fun in the Sun and a little adventure. We have new places to explore and some sunny days sailing on an ocean breeze. It feels good to have her around. Maybe I'll stop talking to myself.

Cheers!
P


Blogging. It comes and goes. I'll have more to write about after we get the hell out of here.