My Father the Handyman

My Father the Handyman

My parents were in town this past week… they just flew out this morning. Overall, they really are pretty low-key parents: they don’t have a lot of demands and they’re pretty flexible, but I still always get a little stressed trying to plan their visits. They say they’re fine just sitting at home, but both of them are such busy bees at heart. My dad especially. He cannot sit still, and I, of all people, can relate. So weeks in advance, I planned out an entire list of things to do. Turns out though, they’re so damn productive in the mornings that by afternoon, they’re sort of homebodies.

One of the biggest surprises? Dad is so damn handy around the house– I really had no idea. Of course, he took every opportunity to remind my mother and me that he has done all these things before, either with his past homes or with his current rental properties. “I’m a carpenter and a plumber and a gardener and a…” Yup, basically, he’s a superstar. Ah well, it was kinda entertaining how he bragged about it. And clearly, he was happy to be useful. The items he accomplished? He touch painted a bunch of places, fixed the leaking toilet, hung all my paintings, built additional shelving in the washer/dryer area, scrubbed the patio/sidewalks, cleared all the yard debris, mowed the lawn, pruned the trees, weatherized the front door, and caulked the guest tub. Seriously, I came home for lunch one day and the yard was so damn clean, it was practically unrecognizable. It was frickin’ awesome having my own little home clean-up team, I’m telling you. I could ALMOST get used to living with them. Haha.

And John was very relieved, because all those tasks had been on his list for MONTHS… now I’ll just have to draft a list of new items to keep him busy. Step it up, honey.

In terms of “fun” activities with the parents: we hit a lot of gardens in the area. Hakone Estate and Gardens is quite nice in Saratoga. Sunset Magazine’s garden and Gamble Gardens in Menlo Park/Palo Alto were simpler and less impressive, but still a great reason to get out and enjoy the sunshine. Best stop of all? Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga– so beautiful. I could not help envisioning an awesome wedding there. I know, it’s so unlike me. Ah well, regardless, I can’t wait to go back and hike to the vista point.

Of course, we also did our fair share of Chinese grocery shopping. Seriously, we must have hit 5 different Asian markets multiple times in one week. Had to get the supply of ingredients and fresh seafood SOMEwhere, right? Unfortunately, bowling, the movies, and karaoke didn’t make the list. By the time I thought we could hit those places, my parents just wanted to go home and chill. Oh well. My buddy Pamela is coming to town this weekend, so in addition to clocking in some massive shopping, I think we’ll also hit karaoke. 🙂 I gotta demonstrate my newly acquired skillz with “Glory of Love.”

Overall, I’m pretty happy with how the parental visit went down. I still think my parents spend WAY too much time together, but at least now I can actually get along with them. No more drama from my 20s. And they didn’t even mention the baby thing. Thank goodness. I guess they finally read the memo. Plus, there was so much learning exchange going on… dad was showing me how to fix the leaking toilet, how to recaulk the tub, and… he even showed me how to tie a badass necktie, which I think I’m going to throw into my wardrobe at some point!! He also recently acquired an iPhone4, so John and I got him all up to speed on some key apps and such. Pretty cool to see him still moving the brain. We had a good time.

Now John and I are recovering. My Craigslist futon isn’t nearly as comfy as our bed, so tonight, it’s back to the full-on luxury. But before that, we’re hitting the movies. I’m very excited to see “The Social Network.” Yeah sure, I’m kinda over Facebook but who can pass on a movie about friendship and betrayal. Plus, it scored like 97% on Rotten Tomatoes!

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