Well, the brain keeps on thinking, which is good, but I can usually tell when I wake up in the middle of the night if I can go back to sleep or if I just need to get up. This was one of those great getting up mornings. Have a hair appointment a little later and will probably make a grocery store stop. I am also thinking of Roy, his last day at the office is today. He is leaving after his exit interview. The past few months have had such a range of emotion, especially the last few weeks as he came to the conclusion that retirement is on the horizon. Today is no longer the horizon but a new day as he begins a new life of adventure and living here in the mountains of North Carolina. He has a few things to wrap up tomorrow and he is hoping for the 7:00-9:00 am window of the movers coming Friday. Then he begins his drive here with Houston in the background. One morning last week I gave a minute's thought of, what if we have made a mistake about moving here. I mean, I have never given that one thought, ever. No, this is one of our best decisions and we have known the Lord's leading all the way. We were talking last night about 2021, especially that call from a realtor interested in knowing if we were in the market to sell our house. As the conversation went on, he was really more interested in selling us a place once we sold. He said he would call back and never did. Got the discussion rolling and the next thing you know, we have put a message in for Ryan Langford and as they say the rest is history. This would almost be too overwhelming if the house hadn't sold in three days, the estate sale done by Bill and Peggy, and of course Roy who oversaw that everything was taken care of without me having to go to Houston. So here's to twenty two years and two days. Roy has finished well. From his start at Pennzoil, hired while in college as well as passing the CPA exam to all the work he did in between including getting a MBA in finance, law degree, Certified Internal Auditor, Accredited Petroleum Accountant and whatever other initials he has after his name. He is direct, doesn't like gray areas and figures out how things can be done. He is also very helpful and loves to see people succeed. He was an excellent recruiter at La Tech and he helped the Toastmaster club at work be successful and helped people network as well as becoming a good communicator. I called Roy this morning before he went to his workout to wish him a happy day, one that has been prayed for and to tell him I love him. December 15th.
This afternoon, after his exit interview Roy called me so that we could "walk" out of the building together as he left downtown for the last time as an employee of EPD. I am probably more emotional over this than he is. He told me this afternoon, that's what was, EPD, and he is looking forward to getting to what will be. Tomorrow he takes his modems back to Comcast, just might pick up some gingerbread men for me from Three Brothers Bakery and get everything packed into the Sequoia and wait for the rest to be packed up to move Friday morning. His landlord there at the condo told him he had been the ideal tenant. That's nice to know.
This morning I got my hair cut and then made a Target run. I found $125.00 in Target Gift cards when I was cleaning out some drawers. So, I went to pick up essentials and even stayed under the $125.00. Each time I go to a store I observe what shelves are empty or there is a short supply of. Read that dairy will be the next shortage, don't know why. Publix was emptied out of cream cheese, but I wasn't looking for that. Publix is putting limits on several items while Target is limiting Pokémon cards. Someone can have my allotment. I don't even know what those are. I stopped in at Publix because I had eaten all my dinners and the like. I still might have cereal and yogurt for supper though.
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Roy and I spent a lot of the evening talking last night. Going through details and making those last decisions on what stays and what can go. We also talked about his twenty two years and two days working for EPD. Lots of good memories, a few challenging experiences and the personal and professional accomplishments that were his in those years. There are several others that are retiring soon and Roy said in the next few months a lot of knowledge will be walking out the door, meaning they have done their jobs for a long enough time that not much unsettles the process. But like before they came there, others probably felt the same way when the young people started the process that is a professional life. When I first moved here, I heard the term corporate America a lot. I don't know that I ever heard that term very often in Houston but then Houston has headquarters and large offices for many corporations. It was the way of life for most of us. The corporate life helped employees keep up with their continuing education hours, pay for their licenses each year, and the like. It is such a benefit cause when one has as many as Roy has, that's a lot of money. Roy never took a sick day or missed a day of work because he was ill. He didn't go to work sick, the timing of not feeling good hit on the weekends.
He started at Pennzoil, wore many hats through the years, auditor, fraud investigator, accounting manager, gas accounting, hedges, derivatives, Sarbanes/Oxley enforcer, and there are others but in the mix of it all, don't remember. Roy worked in the oil and gas industry his whole career. We still laugh at his adventures when he worked for Howell Petroleum back in the hay days of the oil and gas industry. If he flew, it was mainly on the company plane. They refined fuel for race cars, sponsored them and they had coal mines in Kentucky. He retired from EPD. I sure am proud of him. He worked hard, got things accomplished and 98% of the time came home in a good mood.
This morning when I woke up a little before 6:00 am, Roy had already texted me he was up and moving. Some things don't change. Roy is the most consistent person I know. Once he is enjoying mountain life, I am sure his wake up time will be a little later. I am so proud of him and love him so much. Saturday cannot get here soon enough.
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