Meet the Parents

SO. FREAKIN’. EXCITED. YINZ GUYS. Sorry, my “Pittsburghese” came out on that last part, but I’m super pumped today because my parents are coming down to visit me-YES! I always get more than a bit envious of people that live in the same town as their parents and can just go pop over to their childhood home for dinner and whatnot. I knew that by choosing to live 13 hours away from my family back in Pittsburgh, PA, I was giving up the option of the parent “pop-in” opportunities, but it doesn’t make me miss them any less. My mom helped me move into our new house in August, so she saw our empty place before we renovated it, but everything will be totally new to my dad, so it will be really fun to give them a tour.

I can’t really sum up my parents in one blog post (and they are too wonderful for any words in the English language anyways), but here’s the basics that you need to know about Ron and Sheila:

1.) My mom was an art teacher until she started to have babies back in 1983. Since then she has (mostly) quit the formal art world, but has retained her role as the closest thing to Martha Stewart that I’ve ever seen (minus the jail time, of course). If you invite her to your Christmas party, you will not only get her, but a small Christmas tree she created from live boxwood clippings courtesy of a bush she saw on the way to the party. For reals. And she’s the nicest lady EV-ER. If you don’t like my mom, don’t ever say it aloud because the nearest hearing person will punch you in the throat out of sheer disgust. Everybody loves Sheila.

2.) My dad was a high school world cultures/history teacher for 35 years. This means that not only does the man have incredible patience and endurance (would YOU want to be in a room with high schoolers for 35 years? Didn’t think so…), but he knows something about EVE-RY-THING. Get your Ming dynasty confused with your Qing dynasty? Ask Ron. Forgot the percentage of Japanese that bike for their daily commute? Ask Ron. Can’t remember the full name of doomed Egyptian pharaoh King Tut? Ron can spell Tutankhamun in his sleep. You want this guy on your Trivial Pursuit team. Seriously.

Anyways, we’ve got a lot of big plans for ol’ Ron and Sheila while they’re here. We may not get the whole list done, but I can’t wait to get started!